alto

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian alto (“high”), the Italian adjective used as a noun for a high voice in part music (1580),^[2][3][4] short for alto canto (“high song”),^[5][6][7] from Latin altus (“high”).^{[2][5][4][8][9]} The OED adds that the Italian noun followed post-classical Latin altus in the sense of an alto voice, and compares German Alt (before 1513) and contralto.^[2] Etymonline explains the Latin adjective as literally "grown tall", from Proto-Indo-European *al- (“to grow, nourish”),^[5][4] and Merriam-Webster relates it to old.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In polyphonic music, the second highest of the four parts, below the soprano and above the tenor: 1597, in Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Musicke, which also has the sense of high pitch (in alto).^[2] Merriam-Webster's first known use is 1611, for the part sung by the highest men's voices,^[3] and Barnhart and Etymonline date the word from 1784, for a man with an alto voice.^[10][5]

Semantic evolution

The part was named "high" because it lay above the tenor, which in older music carried the melody.^[5] In 1611, in Florio's dictionary, alto named the highest adult male voice,^[2] and in 1784 a singer with that voice.^[2][5] From 1840 it was also used of a low female voice, more strictly a contralto,^[2][5] and the singer is now typically a woman.^[2] Barnhart notes that this shift made the "high" word sound "low", because it came to be taken as a clipping of contralto.^[9] Instrument names followed: the viola was called the alto from 1788,^[2] an instrument pitched between soprano and bass from 1875,^[2] and the alto saxophone, often just alto, from 1921.^[2] Etymonline dates the saxophone sense to 1869.^[5]

Timeline

• 1597 – the second highest part in polyphonic music; high pitch (in alto).^[2]
• 1611 – the highest adult male voice.^[2][3]
• 1724 – adjective, of a voice or part between soprano and tenor.^[2]
• 1784 – a person with an alto voice.^[2][5][10]
• 1788 – the viola.^[2]
• 1840 – a low female voice.^[2]
• 1875 – an instrument between soprano and bass in range.^[2]
• 1921 – an alto saxophone.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The voice part below the soprano and above the tenor in four-part music.^[3][2]
2. The lowest female singing voice; a contralto.^[11][6]
3. The highest adult male singing voice; a countertenor.^[11][6]
4. A singer with an alto voice: The choir is short of altos this season.^[11][3]
5. An instrument pitched second or third highest in its family, especially an alto saxophone.^[11][6][2]
6. Another name for the viola.^[11][3]

Adjective

1. Of an instrument or voice, pitched second or third highest in its group: an alto flute.^[11][6]

Word family

• altoist
• alto clef
• alto flute
• alto horn

Related words

• alt
• contralto
• altitude
• exalt
• haughty
• old
• altocumulus

Usage notes

The OED has two further nouns spelled alto: an obsolete military word for a halt on a march (1591–1644), probably from Italian, where it came from German Halt,^[2] and a 20th-century clipping of altocumulus and altostratus (1905), usually in alto cloud.^[2] Etymonline quotes an 1890 singing manual stressing that a man's alto and a woman's contralto are quite different voices.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
10. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins