corde

Forms

corde f (oblique plural cordes)^[1]

• corda, cord^[2][3]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin chorda (“string of an instrument; rope”),^[4][5][6] which is from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “guts; string of gut”).^[7][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin word, properly a gut string of a musical instrument, already meant any rope in colloquial Latin from Plautus on, beside classical fūnis (“rope”), which survived in Old French fun but died out early.^[5] The DÉRom finds the word in every Romance branch but Ladin and reconstructs it for Proto-Romance with the senses "gut", "bowstring", "string of an instrument" and "rope".^[6] Its cognates include Italian corda, Romanian coardă, Old Occitan corda, Catalan corda, Spanish cuerda and Portuguese corda.^[9]

Wiktionary and the DHLF take the word instead for a borrowing from Latin, the DHLF calling the French word a Frenchified form of the older corda.^[1][10] The DHLF also reports a proposal that the Greek word comes from a Hittite word for "intestines".^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the Clermont Passion, about 1000, with the form corda, in the sense "rope".^[2][11][12] The TLFi dates the text to the second half of the 10th century.^[12]

Semantic evolution

The Oxford Psalter has the string of an instrument, saltier de dis cordes "a psaltery of ten strings",^[13][14] the Roman de Troie the bowstring (1165–1170), and Étienne de Fougères's Livre des manières the hangman's rope (1174–1178).^[12] Chrétien de Troyes uses it for ropes and bonds, the cords of a bed, and a snare.^[15] Figurative phrases include a droite corde "exactly, strictly".^[16] The word continues as French corde.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – corda in the Clermont Passion.^[2][17][11]
• 1100–1150 – corde and cordes in the Anglo-Norman Cambridge Psalter.^[18][19]
• 1121–1125 – the first Anglo-Norman record the AND cites.^[3]
• 1130–1140 – corde in Wace's Conception Nostre Dame.^[12]
• 1140–1160 – the strings of a psaltery in the Oxford Psalter.^[14][20]
• 1165–1170 – a bowstring, in the Roman de Troie.^[12]
• 1174–1178 – the hangman's rope.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. a rope, cord, bond.^[15][3]
2. the string of a musical instrument.^[14][3]
3. a bowstring.^[14][3]
4. the hangman's rope.^[12]
5. a snare.^[15]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites corde from 1121–1125, with the spelling cord, and records insular senses such as "rein, trace", "stalk" and "breast girth of a saddle", and the phrases "straight as a bowstring" and "to pull together".^[3] The MED derives Middle English corde from Old French corde,^[21] and English cord dates from about 1300.^[22] English chord is a different word, a shortening of accord influenced by Latin chorda.^[22]

Word family

• cordel
• corder

Descendants

• Middle French corde (→ French corde)^[1]
• Norman corde^[1]
• Walloon coide^[1]
• Middle Dutch corde (borrowed; → Dutch koord)^[1]
• Middle English corde (borrowed; → English cord, Scots cord)^[1]

Usage notes

Tobler–Lommatzsch, the DÉCT, the AND and the DMF all head the word corde.^{[14][15][3][23]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rainsford, Thomas (2025), Old Gallo-Romance Corpus, github (the earliest Gallo-Romance texts, lemmatised; texts by siglum), p. PassionA
3. ^ a b c d e f g Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. corde
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2:644
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 198
6. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
7. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 2146
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. corde
11. ^ a b Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. corde
12. ^ a b c d e f g 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
13. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
14. ^ a b c d e Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:850
15. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire électronique de Chrétien de Troyes (DÉCT), LFA / Université d'Ottawa – ATILF, CNRS / Université de Lorraine (2014), p. s.v. corde
16. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 2:851
17. ^ Rainsford, Thomas, CorMétAF: lemmatised extracts of Old and Middle French verse and prose (990–1500), github (texts by siglum), p. PassionA
18. ^ Stein, Achim; Kunstmann, Pierre; Gleßgen, Martin-D., eds., Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam, version 4 (lemmatised corpus of Old French texts, after A. Dees), Universität Stuttgart, github.com/michaniets/NCA (texts by DEAF siglum), p. PsCambrM
19. ^ Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. PsCambrM
20. ^ Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. PsOxfM
21. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
22. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
23. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. corde