Etymologically
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chorda

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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