Ordination
/ˌɔːr.dɪˈneɪ.ʃən/noun
The act of officially consecrating someone as a minister or priest, or the process of being ordained.
Did you know?Ordination comes from Latin ordinatio, from ordinare, “to arrange, order,” which is related to the same root behind ordinary and order—so a religious rite was literally framed as a cosmic act of putting things into their proper place.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₃er-
“to fit together, arrange”
Latin
Latin
ordo
“a row, rank, order, arrangement”
Latin
Latin
ordinare
“to put in order, arrange, appoint”
Late Latin
Latin
ordinatio
“arrangement, appointment; ecclesiastical consecration”
Old French
Old French
ordinacion
“ordination, appointment”
Middle English
English
ordinacioun
“appointment; consecration to holy orders”
Modern English
English
ordination
“the act of ordaining someone into holy orders”