intonation

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin intonātiō,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a noun of action from intonō (“to intone”),^[2][4] which is the source of intone and is formed from Latin in- (“in”) and tonus (“tone”), from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos).^[7] Etymonline takes the English word through French intonation, recorded in the 14th century,^[7] while the OED only compares the French form.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In church music, the opening phrase of a plainsong melody, before the reciting note, usually sung by the priest alone or by a few choristers: 1620, in N. Brent's translation of Sarpi.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The word left church music in the late 18th century.^[2][3] From 1776, in Burney's General History of Music, it meant the production of musical tones with regard to style and accuracy of pitch.^[2] From 1788, in Gibbon, it meant reciting in a singing voice, especially the chanting of psalms and prayers on one note.^[2][7] In 1791 it was first used of speech, for the rise and fall of the voice.^[2][7] That sense is now the common one, and linguists use the word for the changes in pitch that carry grammatical meaning.^[8][9] Compounds such as intonation contour and intonation pattern came with this use.^[3]

Timeline

• 1620 – in church music, the opening phrase of a plainsong melody.^[2][5] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[7]
• 1776 – the production of musical tones, with regard to accuracy of pitch.^[2]
• 1788 – the action of intoning, reciting in a singing voice.^[2][7]
• 1791 – the modulation of the voice in speaking.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of intoning or chanting; something intoned.^[8][5][9]
2. (music) The opening phrase of a plainsong melody or psalm, or the singing of it.^[5][9][2]
3. (music) The way a voice or instrument produces notes, especially with regard to accuracy of pitch: The young cellist's intonation was faultless.^[8][9][5]
4. (linguistics) The use of changing pitch in speech to convey grammatical or other meaning: a falling intonation at the end of the sentence.^[8][9]
5. The way of using pitch that marks a speaker or a dialect; accent: a faint Welsh intonation.^[8][3]

Word family

• intonational
• just intonation

Related words

• intonate
• intone
• tone

Usage notes

The OED has a separate noun intonation, "a thundering", from 1658, in Phillips's New World of English Words, formed from the verb intonate "to thunder forth", which comes from Latin intonō (“to thunder”).^[2] It is the only sense Johnson gave in 1755.^[10]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.