One of the burning issues of the day is what to call the old IRA--the traditional IRA, the regular IRA, the non-Roth IRA or ???. Arguably, IRS Publication 590 has decided this issue. It will be the ordinary IRA. Even though we have found no one else using that terminology, we like it. After all, since the Roth IRA really is an extraordinary IRA, the old one must be an ordinary IRA. Makes sense.
It should be noted that the IRS uses different terminology elsewhere. In Announcement 97-122, they refer to Traditional IRAs.
The 1997 IRS Publication 590 is was released in December, 1997 and includes only brief mention of the Roth IRA. The Roth IRA will be dealt with more extensively in upcoming Publication 553.