different between exordium vs prolegomenon

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exordium (“beginning, commencement”), from ex?rdior (“I begin, commence”), from ex (“out of, from”) + ?rdior (“I begin”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???z??d??m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???z??d??m/
• (US)

Noun

exordium (plural exordiums or exordia)

1. (formal) A beginning.
2. The introduction to an essay or discourse.
   • 1985, Anthony Burgess, Kingdom of the Wicked:

     This is a feeble article of faith to begin with, but it helps to push my pen through this exordium and what now follows.

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin exordium.

Pronunciation

Noun

exordium n (plural exordia)

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

Latin

Etymology

From ex?rdior.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ek?so?r.di.um/, [?k?s?o?rd?i???]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ek?sor.di.um/, [???z?rd?ium]

Noun

ex?rdium n (genitive ex?rdi? or ex?rd?); second declension

1. beginning, commencement
2. introduction, preface
3. foundation, creation

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

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

Descendants

References

• 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.

English

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek neuter noun: ???????????? (prolegómenon, “that which is said beforehand,”) [plural: ??????????? (prolegómena), from the verb: ????????? (prolégein, “to speak, say before[hand]”)] referring to an introduction.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?p???l????m?n?n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?p?o?l????m?n?n/

Noun

prolegomenon (plural prolegomena)

1. (usually in the plural) A prefatory discussion; a formal essay or critical discussion serving to introduce and interpret an extended work.

Derived terms

• prolegomenal
• prolegomenous

Translations