string (of a musical instrument)
→
chord (music)
3 realizations
Related shifts
| ID | Meaning 1 | Direction | Meaning 2 |
| ACCEPTED Realization 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Polysemy | |
| Language | English | |
| Lexeme | chord | |
| Meaning 1 | (dated) string of a musical instrument | Instruments that made melodious Chime Was heard, of Harp and Organ; and who mov'd Their Stops and Chords was seen (John Milton Paradise Lost) |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously | He struck the opening chords of the passage; but this time Irene's voice was silent. Victor stopped in the middle of an arpeggio (Delano Ames, Crime out of Mind, 1956) |
| Reference | OED | |
| Comment | Modern English chord ' is a variant of cord ' long, thin, flexible length of twisted yarns (strands) of fiber (rope, for example), (dated) chord (music)', with spelling alteration due to Latin chorda 'cord', ultimately from Ancient Greek χορδά, χορδή 'string of gut, the string of a lyre' | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 2 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Derivation | |
| Language | Mandarin Chinese | |
| Lexeme 1 | xián (弦) | |
| Lexeme 2 | héxián (和弦) | |
| Meaning 1 | string (of a musical instrument) | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | chord (music) | |
| Reference | BKRS | |
| Comment | hé (和) 'mix together; peace; harmony' | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 3 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | Polysemy | |
| Language | Modern Written Arabic | |
| Lexeme | وَتَر watar- | |
| Meaning 1 | string (of bow, of a musical instrument) | |
| Direction | → | |
| Meaning 2 | chord (of a lute, etc.) | |
| Reference | Wehr Baranov Lane: 2918 | |
| Comment | From verb وَتَرَ /watara/ 'to string (as a bow), to provide with a string'. | |
Moden Greek χορδή 'string (of a musical instrument)', συγχορδία 'chord (music)' (DSMG)