𐰆𐰺𐰑𐰆

ordu

Meaning:
royal camp, palace; army, camp
Details:
Etymology. Originally ‘a royal residence’, that is ‘palace’ or ‘royal camp’ as the circumstances demanded; In Azerbaijani and Ottoman Turkish it came to mean ‘a royal camp’, thence any ‘military camp’ and finally, in military terminology, the largest type of military formation, ‘army’ — elsewhere it retained its original meaning, but there are indications that in some languages it was reborrowed from Mongolian (Clauson, 1972). Erdal (1991) hypothesises that it is derived from a reconstructed verb or- meaning that orun (“place”) and ortu (“middle”) as sharing the same root.
Borrowings into other languages. The Turkic word ordu “royal camp, palace; army, camp” was widely borrowed into other languages: Classical Mongolian ᠣᠷᠳ᠋ᠤ (ordu) and modern Mongolian орд (ord); Classical Persian اُرْدُو (urdū), with descendants or further borrowings in Dari اُرْدُو (urdū), Iranian Persian اُرْدُو (ordow), Tajik урду (urdu) / Урду (Urdu), Bengali উর্দু (urdu), French ourdou, Gujarati ઉર્દૂ (urdū), Hindi उर्दू (urdū), Urdu اُرْدُو (urdū), English Urdu, Nepali उर्दु (urdu) / उर्दू (urdū), Odia ଉର୍ଦୁ (urdu) / ଉର୍ଦୂ (urdū), Kannada ಉರ್ದೂ (urdū), Marathi उर्दू (urdū), Punjabi Gurmukhi ਉਰਦੂ (uradū), Punjabi Shahmukhi اُرْدُو (urdū), and Telugu ఉర్దూ (urdū). It is also connected with Xiong-nu > Old Chinese 甌脫 (ōutuō), Kalmyk орда (orda), Middle French horde, German Horde, Polish horda, Russian орда (orda), English horde, Macedonian орда (orda), Albanian hordhi, Northern Kurdish ordî, Arabic عُرْضِيّ (ʕurḍiyy), Amharic ዕርድ (ʿərd), Tigre ዕርዲ (ʿərdi), and Tigrinya ዕርዲ (ʿərdi).

In modern languages

Select a region to see the cognate.
Language Cognate
Turkmen orda
Turkish (Azerbaijan) ordu
Turkish (Türkiye) ordu
Salar -
Gagauz -
Crimean -
Uyghur orda
Uzbek orda
Kazakh orda
Nogai orda
Siberian Tatar -
Kyrgyz ordo
Altai ordı, ordo
Alan -
Kumyk -
Tatar urda
Bashkir urda
Tıva -
Khakas orda
Sakha (Yakut, Dolgan) orduu
Khalaj -
Chuvash -

Examples

Irıq Bitig
1

Translations

German:
königliches Lager, Palast; Armee, Lager
Russian:
царский лагерь, дворец; армия, лагерь
Turkish (Azerbaijan):
şah sarayı, saray; ordu, düşərgə
Turkish (Türkiye):
hanın ikametgahı, kamp; ordu
  • Clauson (1972) An etimological dictionary of pre-thirteenth-century Turkish p. 203
    ordu:, ortu: Preliminary note. This is one of the few cases in which two words semantically different are, at any rate in Türkü and Xak., differentiated phonetically only by the difference between -rd- and -rt-; in Uyğ., owing to the ambiguity of the script, only the context can decide which word is intended. The second is spelt orto in TT VIII, and the fact that in most modern languages both words now end in -a suggests that originally both ended in -o:. It is prob. that the words, entered as 1 and 2 ordu:, have a common origin, but as they had developed quite different meanings by XI they have been entered separately; -rd- is an unusual combination of sounds in Türkü and suggests that this is a l.-w., cf. 2 karşı:.


    1 ordu: (ordo:) originally ‘a royal residence’, that is ‘palace’ or ‘royal camp’ as the circumstances demanded; in the religious (Bud. and Man.) texts also ‘a heavenly mansion’. An early l.-w. for ‘palace, royal camp’ as ordo in Mong. (Haenisch 125). Survives in NE Tuv. ordu; SE Türki orda Shaw 20, BŞ 761, Jarring 215 (with Sec. f.s); NC Kır. ordo; Kzx. orda; SC Uzb. ürda; NW Kk., Nog. orda; SW Az., Osm. ordu, Tkm. orda. In SW Az., Osm. it came to mean ‘a royal camp’, thence any ‘military camp’ and finally, in military terminology, the largest type of military formation, ‘army’. Elsewhere it retained its original meaning, but there are indications that in some languages it was reborrowed fr. Mong. See Doerfer II 452. Türkü viii Oğuz yağı: ordu:ğ basdı: ‘hostile Oğuz attacked the royal camp’ I N 8; ordu:ğ bermedi: ‘he did not surrender the royal camp’ I N 9: viii ff. xan olu:rıpan ordu: yapmı:ş ‘the xan came to the throne and erected a royal residence’ IrkB 28; a.o. do. 34: Man. iki yaruk ordu içre ‘in the two palaces of light’ Chuas. 15: Uyğ. (viii ordu: in Şu. E 8 is an error, see E aksirak): viii ff. Man.-A Ordu kent geographical name M I 26, 30; 27, 6 (see Xak.): Man. iki yaruk ordu M I 29, 9; 30, 1; anoşağan orduta tuğku üçün ‘in order to be born (again) in the palace of immortality’ TT III 140; similar phr. do. 165; ay teŋri ordusı . . . kün teŋri ordusı ‘the heavenly mansion of the moon/sun god’ M III 7, 6-7 (v): Bud. ay teŋri ordusı TT V 4, 5; tuşıt ordudakı maytri ‘Maitreya (Buddha) in the Tuşita palace’ TT IV 10, 31; o.o. PP 39, 3; 42, 7; 43, 5; U II 25, 19; USp. 30, 3-4 etc.: Civ. ordu ‘celestial mansion’ (in a calendar text) TT VII 4, 1 etc.: xiv Chin.-Uyğ. Diet. kung ‘palace’ (Giles 6,580) ordu Ligeti 188; R I 1072: Xak. xi ordu: qaṣabatu’l-malik ‘a king’s capital’; hence the town of Kâşğar is called Ordu: kend that is ‘the residence and capital of the kings’: Ordu: a qaṣaba near Balâsâğūn; and Balâsâğūn is also called Ku:z Ordu: from this; ordu: başı: ismu’l-farrāş li’l-mulūk ‘the word for the kings’ personal servant’ Kaş. I 124: KB kelip tegdi el(l)ig turur orduka ‘the king arrived and took up residence in the capital’ 487; karşı ordu tura ‘the palace, the capital, the fortress’ 5263; a.o. 310 (ükül-): xiii(?) KBVP kayu kend, uluş, ordu, karşı, yer-e ‘every town, country, capital, palace, and place’ 26: xiv Muh. dāru’l-malik ‘royal residence’ ordu: Mel. 75, 15; Rif. 179 (adding wa ḥallatuhu ‘and his quarter of the town’): Çağ. xv ff. ordu (spelt) xaymagāh-i salāṭīn ‘royal encampment’ (quotns.); orda (spelt) ḥaram, ya‘ni xāna ki zanān-i salāṭīn wa akābir dar ānca, bāšand ‘the harem, that is the residence of the wives of kings and nobles’; orda begi kiş-i safīd-i ḥaram ‘the white eunuch of the harem’ San. 71r. 14 (orda is prob. a reborrowing from Mong.): Xwar. xiii kel orduka ‘come to the royal residence’ Oğ. 255; a.o. 270: xiv orda (sic) ‘palace’ Qutb 118: Kom. xiv ‘royal court’ orda (sic) CCP, Gr.: Osm. xiv, xv ordu (once ordi) ‘encampment’ in Dede (Rossi, p. 343; orda in TTS I 549 is a mistake); ‘military camp’ in two texts III 548.