Etymologically
Log in

accordo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 19:09. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • /akˈkɔr.do/[1]

Forms

accordo m (plural accordi)[1]

Etymology

It is a noun formed from Italian accordare + -o, from the verb meaning “to bring into agreement”.[2][3][4][1] The verb is Vulgar Latin *accordāre, formed from Latin cor (“heart”) (genitive ⟨cordis⟩) with the prefix ad- on the model of concordō (“to agree”).[5][2][3] The noun has parallels in French accord, Old Occitan acort and Spanish acuerdo.[5][6]

The sense of the verb went from “to give the same heart” to “to harmonize”, and in music it was associated with corda “string”.[3] Some scholars therefore separate a musical verb from Latin chorda (“string”): Prati, Devoto and DEI did so, and Meyer-Lübke argued that Latin would have had no reason to replace the older verb with a verb whose prefix fits less well.[2][6] The LEI follows Ernout in deriving it from the word for “heart”, with a strong influence of the word for “string” already in Latin, and DELI agrees.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Venetian pact with Aleppo of 1207–1208, for an agreement regulating economic and political relations.[7] Medieval Latin acordum “pact” is recorded at Venice in 1218, and Italian accordo in the Novellino at the end of the 13th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “concord, agreement of feelings or opinions” is in Ricordano Malispini, and the adverb d'accordo in Dino Compagni (1310–1312).[2] Giovanni Villani, before 1348, has d'amore e d'accordo “in perfect harmony”.[2]

The musical sense, several sounds heard together, appears in Vincenzo Galilei in 1581; painters used the word for the harmony of colours, and grammarians for agreement in 1865.[2][8] The 16th–17th-century accordo, a set of instruments of one kind in different sizes, passed into German (1732) and French (1776) as the name of an instrument of the viol family.[9][10] German Akkord in commerce, from the second half of the 15th century, blends the French and Italian words.[9]

Timeline

  • 1207–1208 – A Venetian pact with Aleppo uses the noun.[7]
  • 1218 – Medieval Latin acordum is recorded at Venice.[2]
  • End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses accordo “pact”.[2]
  • 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses d'accordo.[2]
  • Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses d'amore e d'accordo.[2]
  • 1581 – Vincenzo Galilei uses the musical sense.[2]
  • 1732 – German Accordo is recorded for an instrument and a chord.[9]
  • 1776 – French accordo is recorded for a viol-type instrument.[9]
  • 1865 – The grammatical sense “agreement” is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. agreement, harmony of opinions, aims or feelings: Tra i due fratelli regna un grande accordo.[4][11][12]
  2. A pact, settlement or treaty: I sindacati hanno firmato l’accordo con l’azienda.[4][12][13]
  3. (law) The meeting of the parties' wills needed to make a contract.[11][13][14]
  4. Harmony between the parts of a whole, or between colours.[4][12][15]
  5. (music) A chord.[4][12][1]
  6. (grammar) Agreement, concord.[4][12]

Word family

  • disaccordo
  • accordicchio

Usage notes

D'accordo means “agreed” (essere d'accordo, andare d'accordo) and, as a reply, “OK”; the superlative d'accordissimo is colloquial.[11][13][14] Tommaseo–Bellini also record accordo for an old stringed instrument and for the wire used to tune an organ's reed pipes.[8][10]

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 l m n Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b c Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 310
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  8. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  9. ^ a b c d Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 31
  11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  14. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli