Everything’s tangled up in the most fascinating way.
As I’ve just learned, “accord” comes from ac-, “toward,” + cord, meaning “heart.” I was surprised to find that cord is “heart.” But that’s the root of “cordial” (though not “coronary,” as I would have guessed).
I figured there wouldn’t be any connection between “chord” and this cord, but I was wrong!
There are a few types of “chord.” One (e.g., to strike a chord emotionally) comes from a Greek word for “string.” Another “chord” (the combination of three or more musical tones) derives from “accord” and from words that historically preceded “accord”—so there’s a distant connection between the musical tones and “heart.”
When we say something “struck a chord” with us or that it tugs on our “heart strings,” maybe we’re unknowingly referring to some interconnections here!
Oops, no, that’s not right. “Heart strings” derives from an old anatomical theory that tendons and nerves connected to the heart.
I think I should have quit loooong ago!
