baritone

Etymology

Most dictionaries take it as borrowed from Italian baritono (“a deep voice”);^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} the OED gives French barytone as an alternative source,^[8] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged baryton.^[9] The Italian word is a learned borrowing of Ancient Greek βαρύτονος (barútonos, “deep-sounding”),^[3][8][4] formed from βαρύς (barús, “heavy, deep”) and τόνος (tónos, “pitch, tone”), the source of tone.^[8][3][2] Etymonline traces the first part to Proto-Indo-European *gʷerə- (“heavy”) and the second to Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).^[4][2] In the 19th century the usual English spelling was barytone, under the influence of the French form.^[3][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The male voice between tenor and bass: 1609, in J. Dowland's translation of Ornithoparchus's Micrologus.^[8][3][9] Etymonline dates the word to about 1600,^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1600–10.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From the voice the word passed to instruments of deep sound: from 1685 it named a kind of bass viol, now obsolete,^[8] and later a baritone saxophone or brass instrument.^[8][4] The adjective, of a voice between bass and tenor, is recorded from 1729, in Swift.^[8][9][4] A baritone as a singer with such a voice dates from 1821, in Byron's Don Juan.^[8][4] From 1876 the adjective was also used of the member of a family of instruments between the tenor and the bass,^[8] and Etymonline finds it of instruments, first the concertina, by 1854.^[4]

Timeline

• 1609 – the male voice between tenor and bass.^[8][3][9]
• 1685 – an instrument of deep sound, at first a kind of bass viol.^[8]
• 1729 – adjective, of a voice between bass and tenor.^[8][9][4]
• 1821 – a singer with a baritone voice.^[8][4]
• 1854 – adjective, of musical instruments, first the concertina.^[4] The OED's first record of this use is from 1876.^[8]
• 1861 – adjective, of music suited to a baritone voice.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. The adult male voice with a range between tenor and bass: His baritone carried to the back of the hall.^[7][9][8]
2. A singer with such a voice, or a part written for it.^[7][12][8]
3. The member of a family of instruments between the tenor and the bass, such as the baritone saxophone.^[7][9][8]
4. A brass instrument like a small euphonium, pitched in the baritone range.^[12][1]
5. A viola bastarda, a kind of bass viol once played with this name.^[9][8]

Adjective

1. Of a voice or a part, having a range between bass and tenor: a baritone solo.^[7][9][8]
2. Of an instrument, between the tenor and the bass of its family: a baritone horn.^[7][8]

Word family

• baritonal
• bari
• baritone clef
• bass-baritone

Related words

• tone
• barometer
• gravity

Usage notes

When the lower voices of a group are divided into two parts, they are called tenor and bass; divided into three, tenor, baritone and bass.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Onions, C. T., ed. (1966), The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin