coda

Forms

coda f (plural codas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian coda (“tail”), taken as a term of music,^[2][3][4][5] which is from Latin cauda (“tail”).^[6][7] It is thus a doublet of queue, which has the same origin.^[3][1] Sébastien de Brossard had already recorded the Italian word as a musical term in his dictionary of music.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi dates the musical sense, a lively and brilliant closing period of a piece, to 1838, from the Académie's 1842 supplement; the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the word to 1821.^[2][8][7]

Semantic evolution

From music the word passed to dance, where it names the third and last part of a pas de deux, and also the finale of a classical ballet in which the principal dancers appear.^[2][3][6] By analogy it came to mean the closing part of a text or story, as when Balzac wrote in 1850 that he had added the coda to an article.^[2][3]

Littré still described it as a final period added to a piece in place of a less brilliant one, and as the final reprise of a minuet, a contredanse figure or a polka.^[5]

Timeline

• 1821 – First date given by the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert.^[8][7]
• 1834 – Found in Fétis.^[9]
• 1838 – The TLFi's date for the musical sense.^[2][4]
• 1842 – Recorded by Mozin and in the Académie's supplement.^[6][2]
• 1850 – Balzac uses it for the closing part of an article.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (music) The closing section of a piece of music, often lively and brilliant: la coda d'une sonate.^[7][10][2]
2. (dance) The third and last part of a pas de deux, after the variations, also the finale of a classical ballet in which the principal dancers return.^[10][6][2]
3. (figurative, literary) The final part or closing touch of a text or story.^[2][6]
4. (phonology) The coda of a syllable.^[1]

Related words

• queue
• Italian coda
• Latin cauda

Usage notes

The plural is codas.^[5][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)