adjournment (n.)

mid-14c., ajournen, "assign a day, fix a day" (for convening or reconvening of an organized body), from Old French ajorner (12c.) "meet" (at an appointed time), from the phrase à jorn "to another day, to a (stated) day," from à "to" (see ad-) + journ "day," from Latin diurnus "daily," from dies "day" (from PIE root *dyeu- "to shine").

The notion is of setting a date for re-meeting. The meaning "close a meeting" (with or without intention to reconvene) is from early 15c. The sense of "go in a body to another place" (1640s) is colloquial.

The English word has had the -d- since 16c., but the spelling is unetymological, as the compound apparently is not from Latin; Middle French also occasionally has adjourner, but this was rejected in Modern French. Related: Adjourned; adjourning.

1530s, "act of receding or going back or away" (a sense now obsolete), from Latin recessus "a going back, retreat," from recessum, past participle of recedere "to go back, fall back; withdraw, depart, retire," from re- "back" (see re-) + cedere "to go" (from PIE root *ked- "to go, yield").

Meaning "hidden or remote part" is recorded from 1610s; that of "period of stopping from usual work" is from 1620s, probably from parliamentary notion of "recessing" into private chambers. Meaning "place of retirement or seclusion" is from 1630s; that of "niche, receding space or inward indentation in a line of continuity" is from 1690s.