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chorda

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word chorda

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek χορδή
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (χορδή)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin chorda
French corde

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʰɔr.da][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔr.da][1]

Forms

chorda f (genitive chordae); first declension[1] It is also spelled corda.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “gut, string of gut”).[2][1][4] Köbler connects the Greek word with Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰer- (“gut”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is first gut as food, tripe: in Petronius a guest lists pieces of tripe among the dishes.[2][4] Far more often it is a string of gut on a musical instrument: Cicero says that voices are stretched like strings, and Lucretius also uses it.[2][4] Wiktionary also gives the sense of a cord for binding a slave.[1] Church Latin uses it of a string, a stringed instrument, a cord or a girdle.[6] In Medieval Latin it is a cord or rope, a measure of length, and a fee for land surveying.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of strings.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of voices stretched like strings.[2][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of tripe.[2][5]
  • Middle Ages – a cord; a measure of length.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Tripe, gut as food.[2][4][1]
  2. A string of a musical instrument, catgut.[2][4][6][1]
  3. A cord, rope; a girdle.[1][6][3]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A measure of length; a due for land surveying.[3]

Word family

  • chordacista
  • septemchordis
  • trichordis
  • decachordus
  • monochordos

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes chorda, a single string, from fidēs, which in the singular and plural means a full set of strings or a stringed instrument.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Chorda.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/chorda. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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