exordium

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English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin exordium (beginning, commencement), from exōrdior (I begin, commence), from ex (out of, from) + ōrdior (I begin).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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exordium (plural exordiums or exordia)

  1. (formal) A beginning.
  2. The introduction to an essay or discourse.

Translations

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Dutch

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Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin exordium.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˌɛkˈsɔr.di.ʏm/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: exor‧di‧um

Noun

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exordium n (plural exordia or exordiums)

  1. introduction, preface (to an essay or plea)

Latin

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Etymology

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From exōrdior.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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exōrdium n (genitive exōrdiī or exōrdī); second declension

  1. beginning, commencement
    Synonyms: initium, prīmōrdium, prīncipium, orīgō, rudīmentum, limen
    Antonym: fīnis
  2. introduction, preface, start or beginning of a speech
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.283–284:
      Heu quid agat? Quō nunc rēgīnam ambīre furentem
      audeat adfātū? Quae prīma exōrdia sūmat?
      Oh, what should he do now? How is he to solicit the distraught queen, [and] dare implore her? Which first words ought he choose?
      (Aeneas commits to leave Carthage and ponders the doubly emphatic “prima exordia.” Idiomatically, what does he even begin to tell Dido? How can he broach the subject with her?)
  3. foundation, creation
    ab exordio urbis
    from the founding of the city (especially Rome)

Declension

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Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative exōrdium exōrdia
Genitive exōrdiī
exōrdī1
exōrdiōrum
Dative exōrdiō exōrdiīs
Accusative exōrdium exōrdia
Ablative exōrdiō exōrdiīs
Vocative exōrdium exōrdia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Descendants

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References

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  • exordium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • exordium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • exordium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • the conversation began in this way: sermo inductus a tali exordio