| 词组 | chord, cord |
| 释义 | chord, cord Everyone agrees that chord is used for a group of musical tones, and cord for a string. Beyond this there is some disagreement and some misinformation. Copperud 1970, 1980 says that cord and chord come from the same ancestor, which is only partly true. The musical chord is derived ultimately from accord, and is not related to the string cord. There is, however, another noun chord which is related to cord; it was originally spelled cord, but its spelling was altered in the 16th century to conform to Latin chorda or perhaps the Latin's Greek original. This chord has a few regular uses: technical (truss chord, the chord of an airplane wing), mathematical (the chord of a circle), and emotional: • John's work has always awakened responsive chords in a large and loyal body of admirers —David Piper, Times Literary Supp., 1 Feb. 1980 • During his interview he struck exactly the right chord —E. M. Swift, Sports Illustrated, 7 Mar. 1983 The emotional uses frequently suggest some musical influence. Then we have anatomical use, in which both spellings can be found: • Chordates are defined by the presence of three features. One is the nerve chord in the spinal cord — Chet Raymo, Boston Globe, 21 July 1986 • ... foramen magnum (hole at the base of the skull where the spinal chord enters) —C. Loring Brace, The Stages of Human Evolution, 1967 American commentators (Copperud 1970, 1980, Bernstein 1958, 1965, 1977, Bremner 1980, Kilpatrick 1984) insist on the cord spelling in such combinations as vocal cords, spinal cord, and reject the chord spelling as an error. British commentators (Fowler 1926, 1965, Treble & Vallins 1937, Longman 1984, Chambers 1985) are more perceptive; they recognize both spellings. OED evidence shows that chord was perhaps somewhat more common than cord in the 19th century; Fowler thought chord was predominant in the first quarter of the 20th. Longman recognizes both spellings; so does Chambers, but Chambers says that cord has become more common. Cord seems to predominate in American use. The chord spelling can still be found in American sources in combination with spinal and more frequently with vocal, where the unrelated musical chord may affect people's spelling: • ... whose spinal chord was severed in a mugging incident —Barry Schatz, Springfield (Mass.) Union, 13 May 1985 • ... making my living by my pen and on occasion by agitating my vocal chords —Clifton Fadiman, Holiday, April 1957 • ... paralysis in one vocal chord —Current Biography, February 1968 • A girl's pipes are her vocal chords —Sherman Louis Sergel, ed., The Language of Show Biz, 1973 The compound dischord (for discord), found in a nationally syndicated comic strip in the late 1970s, is undoubtedly influenced by the musical chord, but it is a misspelling. Conclusion: even though the chord spelling with adjectives like vocal and spinal is historically justified and considered acceptable by a number of British authorities, it is widely understood to be a misspelling in American usage. While it is not really a misspelling, we recommend that you use the commoner cord spelling. |
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