Ordnung

Definition

A set of rules for Amish and Mennonite living.

Etymology

From Pennsylvania German, from German Ordnung (“order, discipline”).

Example Sentences

• "Rather than a packet of rules to memorize, the Ordnung is the “understood” set of expectations for behavior. In the same way that the rules of grammar are learned by children, so the Ordnung, the grammar of order, is absorbed by Amish youth."
• "According to Beiler, adherence or nonadherence to the ordnung became a full-blown subject of discussion and controversy during the American Civil War, when changes in fashionable clothing and inventions of new farming technologies made it imperative for the Amish to address such issues directly, in the hope, as Beiler puts it, of preserving intact “their old-time religion.”"