1606, "area in an ancient theater," from L. orchestra, from Gk. orkhestra, semicircular space where the chorus of dancers performed, with suffix -tra denoting place + orkheisthai "to dance," intens. of erkhesthai "to go, come," from PIE *ergh- "to set in motion, stir up, raise" (cf. Skt. rghayati "trembles, rages, raves," L. oriri "to rise"), from base *er-/*or- (cf. L. origo "a beginning;" Skt. rnoti "rises, moves," arnah "welling stream;" O.Pers. rasatiy "he comes;" Gk. ornynai "to rouse, start;" Goth. rinnan, O.E. irnan "to flow, run"). In ancient Rome, it referred to the place in the theater reserved for senators and other dignitaries. Meaning "group of musicians performing at a concert, opera, etc." first recorded 1720; "part of theater in front of the stage" is from 1768. Orchestrate "to compose or arrange (music) for an orchestra" is an 1880 back-formation of orchestration, which was borrowed 1864 from Fr. The fig. sense of orchestrate is attested from 1883.

a (usually large) group of musicians playing together, led by a conductor

Arabic: أورْكِسْتْرا: فِرْقَه موسيقِيَّه Chinese (Simplified): 管弦乐队 Chinese (Traditional): 管弦樂隊 Czech: orchestr Danish: orkester Dutch: orkest Estonian: orkester Finnish: orkesteri French: orchestre German: das Orchester Greek: ορχήστρα Hungarian: zenekar Icelandic: hljómsveit Indonesian: orkestra Italian: orchestra	Japanese: オーケストラ Korean: 오케스트라, 관현악단 Latvian: orķestris Lithuanian: orkestras Norwegian: orkester Polish: orkiestra Portuguese (Brazil): orquestra Portuguese (Portugal): orquestra Romanian: orchestră Russian: оркестр Slovak: orchester Slovenian: orkester Spanish: orquesta Swedish: orkester Turkish: orkestra