harpsichord

Etymology

It is borrowed from French harpechorde, a French word now obsolete that Cotgrave recorded,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which corresponds to Italian arpicordo (Radino 1592, Florio 1598) and New Latin harpichordium (before 1558, in Scaliger's “Poetics”).^[2] Etymonline derives the French word from the New Latin one,^[7] Klein and the American Heritage Dictionary from the Italian;^[8][9] Merriam-Webster takes the English word as a modification of the Italian,^[10] and Dictionary.com and Collins derive it from the New Latin.^[11][12] All are formed from Late Latin harpa (“harp”) and Latin chorda (“string”), Italian corda,^{[2][13][9][10]} so that the name means "harp-string".^[5][7] The Late Latin word is of Germanic origin,^[9] from the same source as harp, German Harfe, Dutch harp and Swedish harpa,^[5] and the Latin one is from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ).^[9] The s of the English word has no explanation:^{[13][3][5][4]} the OED, which thinks it apparently due to some mistake, finds it in the earliest English examples,^[2] while Etymonline has it by the 1660s.^[7] Skeat and Klein note the older spelling “harpsechord”.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A keyboard instrument resembling a grand piano, whose strings are plucked by points of quill or leather: 1611, in Cotgrave's French–English dictionary.^[2][14][10] Dictionary.com dates the word 1605–15.^[11]

Semantic evolution

According to Ayto, the instrument was developed in the late 16th century and given its Italian name then, the English word coming through French.^[5] Klein describes it as the forerunner of the piano.^[8] Collins and Merriam-Webster describe the usual instrument as having two keyboards and stops that change the tone, with the strings plucked by plectrums or quills.^[12][10] The player is a harpsichordist.^[12][11]

Timeline

• 1611 – a keyboard instrument with plucked strings, in Cotgrave.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A keyboard instrument shaped like a grand piano, whose strings are plucked by quills or plectrums mounted on jacks, usually with two manuals and stops that change the tone.^{[12][10][2][13]}

Word family

• harpsichordist

Related words

• harp
• chord
• cord
• arpeggio
• clavichord

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ a b Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
14. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)