primordium

English edit

Borrowed from Latin prīmordium.

primordium (plural primordia)

(anatomy) An aggregation of cells that is the first stage in the development of an organ.
Synonyms: anlage, (obsolete) proton
(history, theology) A primordial, original condition or event.
- 1997 [1991], Alexandre Grandazzi, translated by Jane Marie Todd, The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History, →ISBN, page 33:
  It is thus vain to hope that the history of the primordia can be reduced to the progress of archeological investigation.
- 2003, David Chidester, Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 106:
  Attempts have been made by historians of religion to distinguish between mythic orientations in time concerned with the repetition of a primordium and those concerned with the anticipation of an eschaton.
- 2008, Richard L. Bushman, Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction, →ISBN, page 5:
  [Joseph Smith] did not think of himself as going back to a primordium of true Christianity, as the Puritans did. In his view, there never was a golden age when religion flourished to perfection.

first stage of development of an organ

From prīmus + root of ōrdior + -ium.

prīmōrdium n (genitive prīmōrdiī or prīmōrdī); second declension

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