Concord

[Dr. Goodword]

• concord •

Pronunciation: kahn-kord • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, mass (No plural)

Meaning: 1. Harmony, agreement, consonance. 2. A treaty establishing peaceful relations between two parties. 3. (Linguistics) Grammatical agreement. 4. (Music) A combination of notes pleasing to the ear, requiring no resolution in following chords.

Notes: Today's word is the antonym of discord. It comes with two equally rare adjectives, concordant and concordial. Concordance is the quality noun, but it also can refer to an alphabetical list of words in a text, identified by the number of the page on which they appear in the text.

In Play: Most often today's word is a near synonym of agreement: "William Arami and June McBride could not reach concord on the question of which the day their marriage should take place on." The difference between the two is that today's word also implies peace: "Murphy wondered whether there would ever be concord again in the Middle East or the US Congress."

Word History: Today's Good Word is made up of the prefix con- "(together) with" + cord(is) "of the heart". Con- descended quite naturally from PIE k'om "beside, near, with", also underlying Lithuanian su "with", Russian s(o) "with", German ge-, collective noun prefix, as Gebirge "mountain range" from Berg "mountain", Irish cuma "appearance, shape", Welsh cyf- "(together) with, similar", and Cornish ken "other(wise)". Cor, cordis descended from PIE k'erd-/k'ord- "heart", also found in Greek kardia "heart, center", Albanian kërthizë "navel", Irish croi, croidhe "heart", Welsh craidd "core, essence", Hindi keandra "heart, center", Marathi hŗdaya "heart", Russian serdce "heart" and seredina "center", Serbian srce "heart" and sreda "Wednesday" (center day of the week), Lithuanian širdies "heart", Latvian sirds "heart", Dutch hart "heart", German Herz "heart", Norwegian hjerte "heart", and English heart. (We are all in concord that we pay grandmaster of GW suggestions William Hupy a hearty "thank-you" for today's historically rich Good Word.)

[Debbymoge]

I'm originally from Concord, MA.
The name was of course, given by the English who settled there in what was to be the first inland town in the area, after peaceful dialog and an agreement with the local indigenous people.
There *was* apparent agreement, but that was because there was no concordance in language.
The local tribes thought the idea of "owning" the land not only incomprehensible, but risible. They saw the "payments" as freely given for what was just *there*.

Of course, the peacefulness only lasted until the Europeans got settled in. Then...

Well, we know, don't we.

[David Myer]

Interesting, Debby. Thank you.

I must say though, that the word 'accord' seems to me a perfectly suitable word for the same meaning and is a little easier to say. Perhaps that's why concord is so rarely used (except where Debby came from, of course,

[Debbymoge]

David, is this a chicken and/orn the egg problem?
Is accord easier, more familiar, because more used, and concord less so because less used, or has their level of usage not changed over time?

Concord and concordance seem to me just as used and useful as accord and accordance.
I'm willing to admit to being wrong if that is not the experience of you others on here, all of whom display more and wider familiarity with these items and ideas.

[Slava]

Here's a piece on the internot I found that explains some of the differences. It gets repetitive, and may even be machine generated for all I know, but it does help.

Of course, accordance and concordance have different usages, at least as far as making a list of words used by an author or in a work.

I can't explain why, but I'd also always go with 'in accordance with someone's wishes'. Never 'in concordance'.

[David Myer]

Ahh! I like it, Slava. Accord is agreement between two or three parties. Concord is agreement within a group.

Debby, if I can offer some word of support, I think you are unnecessarily deferential - you are every bit a worthy contributor here. Interesting that concord is as well used in your circle/space as accord. Here in Australia, concord is rarely used - in my bubble anyway! We do have a suburb of Sydney called Concord. According to Wikipedia, it takes its name from Concord in Massachusetts in USA. But "Some historians believe the Sydney suburb was named Concord to encourage a peaceful attitude between soldiers and settlers", says Wiki. Perhaps it should have been called Accord.

[Dr. Goodword]

The local tribes thought the idea of "owning" the land not only incomprehensible,

Buffalo Bill Cody testified before Congress that owning land was comparable to the Europeans' understanding of owning sky.

[Debbymoge]

Dear Doctor, thank you for that!
Much appreciated.

[Debbymoge]

Slava, thank you for the link.
Yes, I "hear" a difference between the two also, but was less acutely aware of that fact before your welcome information.

I was especially struck by what I think is a side issue.
"With this in mind, it’s important to choose your words carefully to ensure that your message is conveyed accurately and effectively. "

I see the lack of that as a major threat to "civilization" and indeed the human race, and the earth.
It may be too late to save same, but that is the road to salvation--agreed upon definitions and careful usage.
Humpty Dumpty be damned...