Etymologically
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noise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /nɔɪz/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English noise,[2] borrowed from Old French noise (“din, uproar, brawl; rumour”) (11th century),[3][4][5] a word of uncertain origin.[3] According to most sources it is from Latin nausea (“seasickness”),[3][5][2][6] through a Gallo-Romance sense “annoyance, discomfort”,[4] the source of nausea;[7] others derive it from Latin noxia “hurt, injury”.[3] The OED considers the sense against both, and Barnhart finds the disparity of sense and form hard to accept.[3][4] It replaced native gedyn, the source of din.[3] In modern French noise survives only in chercher noise, “to pick a quarrel”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sound of a musical instrument: about 1200 in Etymonline, probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle.[3][4] Loud outcry or clamour: before 1225 in the OED.[8]

Semantic evolution

A loud or disagreeable sound of any kind is from about 1290,[8] about 1300 in Etymonline.[3][4] Rumour, report or scandal is from 1297, now obsolete,[8][3] as is strife or quarrelling (1484).[8] In Middle English it could also be a pleasant sound,[3][5] and in the 16th and 17th centuries a band of musicians.[3][5] Noises off, in the theatre, is by 1908,[3] and make noises, to say something vaguely, from 1951.[8] The verb meant “to praise” about 1380, in Chaucer, and “to spread by rumour” in the late 14th century, as in it was noised abroad.[4][3] Noisy is from 1693, in Dryden.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – the sound of an instrument.[3][4]
  • a. 1225 – clamour.[8]
  • c. 1290 – a loud sound.[8]
  • 1297 – rumour (obsolete).[8]
  • c. 1380 – verb, to praise.[4]
  • 1693 – noisy.[4]
  • 1908 – noises off.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A sound, especially a loud, unpleasant or unwanted one.
  2. A loud outcry or commotion.
  3. (technical) Random disturbance that obscures a signal or reduces the clarity of data.
  4. noises: remarks expressing a feeling or intention, often vaguely: making encouraging noises.

Verb

  1. To spread a rumour: it was noised abroad.

Word family

  • noiseless
  • noiselessly
  • antinoise
  • noisemaker
  • noiseproof
  • noisy
  • Johnson noise
  • thermal noise

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press