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socordia

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word socordia

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*ḱḗrd)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cor
English concord
French cœur
Latin concors
Latin socors
Latin socordia
Latin vecors
Latin vecordia

Forms

sō̆cordia f (genitive sō̆cordiae); first declension[1] Because of its origin it is sometimes written sēcordia.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin socors (“sluggish, inactive”) + -ia.[3][1] De Vaan lists socors among the compounds of cor (“heart”), from ⟨*swe-kord-⟩ or ⟨*sēd-kord-⟩, “without heart”;[4] he traces cor to Proto-Italic *kord and Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗrd (“heart”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who has “cast off all sloth and put away idleness”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is lack of energy or alertness, sluggishness or inaction;[3][2] Lewis & Short note that in this sense it is used only in the singular and perhaps once in Cicero.[3][2] Sallust joins it with idleness and cowardice, and Livy speaks of the delay and sloth that let the enemy advance.[2] Of the mind it is dullness or folly, as Pliny the Elder's “greater folly” of believing in countless gods, and Suetonius says Antonia called anyone she accused of it more stupid than her son Claudius.[3] Festus reports that some writers used it for cowardice, but Cato for stupidity.[3][2] Church Latin glosses it “indolence, folly, stupidity, sloth”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sloth to be cast off.[2][4][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of there being no room for sloth.[2][6]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of idleness and cowardice.[2][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of folly.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Lack of energy, sluggishness, sloth, negligence.[3][2][5][1]
  2. Dullness of mind, folly, stupidity.[3][2][5][1]

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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Socordia.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/socordia. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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