scordare

scordare¹ to forget

Etymology tree of scordare¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin cor

French cœur

Italian cuore

Romanian cord

Latin recordor

Spanish recordar

Italian ricordare

Italian scordare

From the same root · scordare¹

English concord ← cor

Latin concors ← cor

Latin corculum ← cor

Latin cordātus ← cor

Latin cordiālis ← cor

Latin discors ← cor

Latin excors ← cor

Latin misericors ← cor

Latin praecordia ← cor

Latin sōcors ← cor

Latin vēcors ← cor

Latin recordantia ← recordor

Latin recordatio ← recordor

Italian ricordo ← ricordare

Pronunciation

• /skorˈda.re/^[1]

Forms

scordare (first-person singular present scòrdo, first-person singular past historic scordài, past participle scordàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to forget” is formed from Italian s- + ricordare (“to remember”), with the prefix s- taking the place of ri-.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} Devoto describes it as modelled on the verb for “to remember”, with the same exchange of prefixes as in sconoscente beside riconoscente.^[6] That verb is learned, from Latin recordor (“to call to mind”), which is formed from cor (“heart”), the heart being held to be the seat of memory.^[3]

Alessio in the DEI and the LEI take a different view: they derive the verb from Late Latin excordō (“to put out of the heart, out of the mind”), which survives only in Italo-Romance and in Friulian scordar.^[7][8] The LEI argues that an attested Latin base should be preferred unless the dates speak against it, which here they don't, and that the rarity of the Latin word in literature says little about its spoken use.^[8] Prati also starts from a popular form, Vulgar Latin *excordāre.^[9] The Late Latin verb is formed from ex- and the noun for “heart”, like the adjective Latin excors (“senseless”).^[10][11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is the participle scordatu in the Judaeo-Italian Elegy, in the line ka lo Soo nome àbbero scordatu “for they had forgotten His name”.^[2][8][10] DELI dates the poem to the 12th century and the LEI to the beginning of the 13th.^[2][8] The family name Scordamale is recorded in Calabria from 1310.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th and 14th centuries the verb is found in Milan (Bonvesin, 1270–1280), the Marche, Umbria, Rome and Tuscany, and the reflexive scordarsi “to forget” appears in Iacopone, who died in 1306.^[8][2] DELI's first example of the transitive verb is in Boiardo, before 1494, and Ariosto uses it in 1516.^[2][8] An old pronominal use meaning “to lose heart, give up a purpose” is found in a 13th-century poem.^[10]

A Tuscan proverb in Tommaseo–Bellini contrasts the offender and the offended: Chi la fa, se ne scorda; chi la riceve, la scrive nel cuore.^[12] In familiar speech scordarsela or scordarsene came to mean giving up all hope of getting something.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 12th or early 13th century – The participle scordatu appears in the Judaeo-Italian Elegy.^[2][8]
• 1270–1280 – Bonvesin uses the verb in Old Milanese.^[8]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone uses the reflexive scordarsi.^[2]
• 1310 – The family name Scordamale is recorded in Calabria.^[2]
• Before 1494 – Boiardo uses the transitive verb.^[2]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses the verb.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To forget, lose the memory of someone or something: Ho scordato il suo cognome.^{[4][15][5][1]}
2. (transitive) To fail to do something through distraction or neglect (with di and the infinitive).^[4][15][16]
3. (transitive) To leave something behind somewhere by oversight.^[4][15]
4. (transitive) To stop thinking of someone, withdraw one's affection or regard; to disregard advice or teachings.^[4][15]
5. (pronominal) scordarsi: to forget, used with or without di.^[16][5][14]
6. (colloquial) scordarselo, scordarsene: to give up all hope of having something: Il motorino, per quest’estate, te lo scordi!^[14][15][16]

Word family

• scordamento
• scordevole
• scordone
• scordarella

scordare² to put out of tune

Etymology tree of scordare²

inherited borrowed derived

Italian accordare

Italian scordare

From the same root · scordare²

Italian accordo ← accordare

Pronunciation

• /skorˈda.re/^[1]

Forms

scordare (first-person singular present scòrdo, first-person singular past historic scordài, past participle scordàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “to put out of tune” is formed from Italian s- + accordare (“to tune”), with the prefix s- taking the place of a-.^[2][3][4][1] Devoto calls it modelled on the verb for “to tune”, with a subtractive prefix replacing the prefix of direction.^[6] The GDLI explains the prefix as Latin ex- with a privative sense.^[10] The origin of the verb for “to tune” is not wholly clear: DELI and the LEI start from Vulgar Latin *accordāre, from Latin cor (“heart”), and DELI notes that it is not known whether one verb divided its senses or two verbs fell together.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giamboni, before 1292, who writes that a single string puts the whole cithara out of tune, as one coarse word ruins a man's honour: Sì come una sola corda scorda tutta la cetera.^[2][10][4]

Semantic evolution

Fra Giordano, before 1311, uses the verb intransitively for an instrument that has lost its tuning, and reflexively for being in disagreement.^[2] Iacopone laments a fine instrument: Bello fu lo stormento;^[12] Non l'avesse scordato.^[12] The sense “disagree” survives only as a rare literary use, as in Pulci's gli autori si scordan qui con meco “the authors disagree with me here”.^[16][17][10]

The verb was also used of the voice losing its pitch (Goldoni) and of an orchestra playing out of tune (Giusti).^[10] In music it names the deliberate tuning of strings to unusual pitches, the technique called scordatura.^[4][14]

Timeline

• Before 1292 – Giamboni uses scordare of a string that puts a cithara out of tune.^[2][10]
• Before 1311 – Fra Giordano uses the intransitive and reflexive verb.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, music) To put an instrument out of tune: Il trasloco ha scordato la chitarra.^{[4][15][5][1]}
2. (transitive, music) To tune the strings of an instrument to pitches other than the normal ones, for special effects or to make passages easier.^[4][15][14]
3. (pronominal) scordarsi: of an instrument, to go out of tune.^[15][5][16]
4. (intransitive) To sound out of tune, be off-key.^[4][10]
5. (pronominal, rare, literary) To disagree, be at odds.^[16][17]

Word family

• scordatura