Codas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A concluding segment in a musical composition that brings closure or resolution to the piece
2. An ending passage in a literary work that summarizes themes or ideas introduced earlier
3. A final section in various contexts, serving to finalize or complete an ongoing narrative or argument

Etymology: "Codas" is the plural of "coda", which comes from Italian for "tail" and, further back, from Latin "cauda", the same word that gave us "queue". The musical sense came first: a coda is the closing section of a piece of music, a passage added to round off the main movement, and the tail-like image fits a section that trails on after the main body has seemed to end. The literary sense, an ending that gathers together the themes or ideas introduced earlier, is a figurative extension of that musical usage. A novel's last chapters or a poem's closing lines can be treated as a coda in the same way, a final stretch that brings the earlier material back into view. The English word "queue" is a doublet of "coda": both descend from the same Latin root, one arriving through French and the other through Italian. "Cola," a separate doublet, is an Italian relative of the same pair.

Synonyms: conclusions, endings