c. 1400, "regular, ordinary; well-regulated, proper," from Old French ordinel and directly from Late Latin ordinalis "showing order, denoting an order of succession," from Latin ordo (genitive ordinis) "row, series" (see order (n.)). Meaning "marking the place or position of an object in an order or series" is from 1590s.
"a tale, a story, a connected account of the particulars of an event or series of incidents," 1560s, from French narrative and from narrative (adj.).
1540s, "a median part," originally anatomical, from Latin medianus "of the middle" (see median (adj.)). Statistical meaning "middle number of a series" is from 1883.
1975, in reference to the style of humor popularized by the comedy troupe in the British TV series "Monty Python's Flying Circus."
