核心畫面

The Italian word means tail, and that is the shape to keep. Something has a body — a piece of music, a book, a party, even a single syllable — and then, hanging off the end of it, a tail. The tail is not the body. It comes after the main work is finished, it is usually short, and it is separate enough to be pointed at and named. Every use of this word is somebody pointing at that tail and saying: this part here, after the end.

這個字在義大利文裡是「尾巴」,這張圖可以一直留著。有一個身體——一首曲子、一本書、一場派對,甚至是一個音節——然後在更多收起這個字在義大利文裡是「尾巴」,這張圖可以一直留著。有一個身體——一首曲子、一本書、一場派對,甚至是一個音節——然後在它的最後面,掛著一條尾巴。尾巴不是身體。它出現在主要的部分結束之後,通常很短,而且獨立到可以被指著、被叫出名字。這個字的每一種用法,都是有人指著那條尾巴說:就是這一段,在結束之後的這一段。

From the word’s history

Borrowed from Italian coda, literally tail, from Latin cauda; a doublet of queue.

借自義大利文 coda,字面就是「尾巴」,再往前是拉丁文 cauda。它跟英文的 queue(排隊)其實是同源的兄弟字,queue 原本也是「尾巴」的意思。知道這一點,下面每一個用法都會自己站好位置。

packet Wiktionary etymology for coda (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:472846292): "Borrowed from Italian coda (literally tail), from Latin cauda. Doublet of queue and cola."

Three branches

樂曲的尾巴

英文是從音樂借進這個字的,所以這一支離那條尾巴最近,也是其他用法的出發點。

noun · C1

An extra section added at the end of a piece of music, after the main part is finished, to bring the piece to a close.

尾聲(樂曲的)

文字與事件的尾巴

把樂曲的尾巴搬到紙上,再搬到人生裡:主要的部分完成了,後面另外掛著安靜的一段。

noun · C1

A short separate piece of writing put at the end of a book, an article or a speech, after the main part has finished, that rounds the whole thing off.

結語;尾聲(文章的)

音節的尾巴

同一條尾巴,縮到最小的尺度:不是一首曲子的結尾,而是一個音節最後那幾個子音。

noun · C2

In the study of sounds, the consonant or consonants at the end of a syllable, coming after the vowel in the middle of it.

音節尾音(語音學)