Etymologically
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corda

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Pronunciation

Forms

corda f (plural corde)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin chorda (“gut; string of an instrument; rope”), also written corda, a Latin borrowing of Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “guts; string of gut”).[2][3][4][1] The Latin word first meant the string of a musical instrument; the ordinary word for “rope” was Latin fūnis, the source of fune.[2] DEI finds the general sense of rope already in Plautus.[5]

The LEI gives the original Latin sense as the gut of an animal, also tripe or a gut sausage, recorded once in Petronius; it survives only in some Italian dialect derivatives, in Logudorese kǫ́rda, a dish of sheep's or goat's guts roasted in the embers, and in Spanish cordilla (1729).[6] The sense “string of an instrument”, from strings made of gut, spread to all the Romance languages, with that of “rope”.[6] The word is French corde, Occitan corda, Catalan corda, Spanish cuerda, Portuguese corda and Romanian coardă, which in Romanian also means “beam”.[3][7] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance feminine noun with the senses gut, bowstring, string of an instrument, rope and tendon, found in every branch except Ladin.[8]

Nocentini traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *gher- (“entrails”), the root of Latin haruspex (“diviner who inspects entrails”).[3] Isidore of Seville derived the word from Latin cor (“heart”), because the string throbs on the lyre as the heart in the breast, an etymology the GDLI calls erroneous.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is a Florentine document of 1279.[10] DELI's first record for the rope is the Fiore (1280–1310), where doves are tied to a chariot a corde di fil d'or “with cords of gold thread”, and for the string of an instrument the 13th-century poet Tommaso da Faenza.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for ornamental cords, ships' rigging, the hangman's rope and the cord of a friar's habit, a plumb line, a bowstring, a measure of length, the string of an instrument and the chord of an arc.[10][5] The bowstring is in Dante, the tightrope of acrobats in Andrea da Barberino (before 1431), and the sense “tendon, sinew” in the Italian Guy de Chauliac (1480–1493); corda vocale is recorded in 1828.[2] From the 13th to the 18th century la corda was also the strappado, the torture of hanging a man by his wrists tied behind his back.[4][2]

Many phrases come from these uses.[2] Dar corda a qualcuno “to encourage someone, let them talk” is from tethering animals so that they do not stray, tenere sulla corda “to keep in suspense” probably from the strappado, tagliare la corda “to clear off” probably from sailors cutting the cable of the anchor, mostrare la corda “to be threadbare” from worn ribbed cloth, and mettere alle corde “to corner” from the ropes of the boxing ring.[2] DELI connects essere giù di corda “to be low” with winding the weights of old wall clocks rather than with the liturgical sursum corda.[2] In mountaineering the word is recorded in 1886 (Giuseppe Giacosa), and cordata “roped party” (1919) is French cordée.[2] French borrowed Italian corda as a musical term in 1703, and German in 1732.[11]

Timeline

  • 1279 – Corda appears in a Florentine document.[10]
  • 1280–1310 – The Fiore uses it for a rope.[2]
  • 13th century – Tommaso da Faenza uses it for the string of an instrument.[2]
  • Before 1321 – Dante uses it for a bowstring.[2]
  • Before 1431 – Andrea da Barberino uses it for a tightrope.[2]
  • 1480–1493 – It is used for a tendon in the Italian Guy de Chauliac.[2]
  • 1703 – French borrows it as a musical term.[11]
  • 1828 – Corda vocale is recorded.[2]
  • 1886 – Giacosa uses it for a climbing rope.[2]
  • 1919 – Piero Jahier uses cordata.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. rope, cord: twisted strands used for tying, lifting or pulling: Lega la barca con una corda robusta.[4][12][13]
  2. (sports) A climbing rope; in boxing and wrestling, one of the ropes round the ring: mettere alle corde.[4][13]
  3. A skipping rope: saltare la corda.[4]
  4. (music) A string of an instrument; in the plural, the stringed instruments: una chitarra a dodici corde.[4][13][1]
  5. (figurative) A feeling, a sensitive point: toccare la corda giusta.[4][14]
  6. (geometry) A chord, the segment joining the ends of an arc.[4][1]
  7. (anatomy) A tendon or cord, corde vocali: the vocal cords.[4][1]
  8. (sports) In athletics and cycling, the inside edge of the track.[4][13]
  9. (history) The strappado, a torture with a rope.[4][13]
  10. A builder's plumb line; the chain holding the weights of a wall clock.[4][13]

Word family

  • cordaio
  • cordame
  • cordata
  • cordella
  • cordellina
  • corderia
  • cordicella
  • cordiera
  • cordiglio
  • cordino
  • cordite
  • cordofono
  • cordone
  • capocorda
  • incordare

Usage notes

Fixed phrases include tagliare la corda “to slip away”, tirare troppo la corda “to push one's luck”, essere giù di corda “to be in low spirits”, avere la corda al collo “to be in a desperate position” and the proverb non parlare di corda in casa dell'impiccato “don't mention rope in the hanged man's house”, which may come from a German proverb.[14][15][2] In naval language every rope is a cavo, except the bell rope.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 g h i j k l De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1104
  6. ^ a b Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 13, 1494
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 3, 767
  10. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
  11. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana