ONLINE ETYMOLOGY
DICTIONARY
- 1590s, from organ + -ist, or from or influenced by M.Fr. organiste, from M.L. organista "one who plays an organ," from L. organum (see organ).
- fusion of late O.E. organe, and
O.Fr. orgene (12c.), both meaning "musical instrument,"
both from L. organa, plural of organum "a musical instrument,"
from Gk. organon "implement, tool for making or doing; musical
instrument; organ of sense, organ of the body," lit. "that
with which one works," from PIE *werg-ano-, from root *werg-
"to do," related to Gk. ergon "work" and O.E.
weorc (see urge
(v.)).
Applied vaguely in late Old English to musical instruments; sense narrowed by late 14c. to the musical instrument now known by that name (involving pipes supplied with wind by a bellows and worked by means of keys), though Augustine (c.400) knew this as a specific sense of L. organa. The meaning "body part adapted to a certain function" is attested from late 14c., from a Medieval Latin sense of L. organum. Organist is first recorded 1590s; organ-grinder is attested from 1806.
No comments:
Post a Comment