A line that ties and carries — the quipus' own word for a thread of knotted meaning between two beings.
Latin chorda (gut, string of an instrument), from Greek χορδή (khorde, string, gut); a line that ties and carries, its oldest sense already a thread that made a shared sound between two ends.
A line that ties and carries — a thread of meaning strung taut between two beings rather than a plain rope. Its oldest sense was already about connection, not restraint.