Etymologically
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resonance

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈɹɛzənəns/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English resonaunce,[2] borrowed from Middle French resonance, also resonnance,[3][4][5][6] now résonance,[3][5] formed from resoner (“to resound”) and the suffix -ance.[3] Most dictionaries trace it to Latin resonantia (“echo”),[4][2][7][8][9] from resonāns, the present participle of resonō (“to resound, sound back”),[7][5][2] the source of resound.[4][2] The OED only compares the Latin word, used by Vitruvius for the reverberation of sounds, and the parallel Spanish resonancia, Portuguese ressonância and Italian risonanza.[3] In medicine the English sense follows French usage (1819), and in chemistry it follows German Resonanz, used by Heisenberg in 1926.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The reinforcement or prolongation of sound by reflection or by the vibration of a surrounding space or a nearby object: before 1460, in Knyghthode and Bataile.[3][4][2] The Middle French word already had this sense around 1365.[3] An earlier English word in the same sense was resonation, from the early 15th century.[2]

Semantic evolution

From 1594 the word was used figuratively, for a corresponding or sympathetic response, and in later use for the power of a thing to call up images, memories and emotions.[3] Boyle used it in 1669 for the property of an object that resounds,[3][4] and Johnson (1755) defined it as "sound; resound", quoting Boyle on lutes that reach their best resonance only after eighty years.[10] Physics turned it into a technical term: in 1833 for the large vibration of a system driven at a frequency close to its own natural frequency, later for tides and waves (1886), electrical circuits (1886), the orbits of celestial bodies (1913), the structure of molecules (1927), magnetic resonance (1938) and short-lived particles (1961).[3] Medicine used it from 1821 for the sound heard when the chest is percussed,[3] and art criticism from 1894 for richness of colour.[3]

Timeline

  • before 1460 – reinforcement or prolongation of sound.[3][4]
  • 1594 – a sympathetic response; later, power to evoke feelings and memories.[3]
  • 1669 – the property of an object of resounding.[3][4]
  • 1821 – in medicine, the sound heard on percussion of the chest.[3]
  • 1833 – vibration of a system at its natural frequency.[3]
  • 1886 – in electricity, the greatest response of a circuit to an oscillating signal.[3]
  • 1894 – in art, richness of colour.[3]
  • 1927 – in chemistry, a structure shared between several formulas.[3]
  • 1961 – in particle physics, a short-lived particle or excited state.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The quality of being resonant; deep, full, reverberating sound: the resonance of the old church bells.[11][7][3]
  2. Sound produced by a body vibrating in sympathy with a nearby source of sound.[11][3]
  3. (physics) The condition of a system acted on by a periodic force of the same, or nearly the same, frequency as its own natural frequency, so that it vibrates strongly.[11][7][3]
  4. (electricity) The condition of a circuit that responds most strongly to an applied signal of a particular frequency.[7][3]
  5. The power to call up feelings, memories or associations: The old song had a special resonance for the veterans.[3]
  6. (medicine) The sound heard when the chest or another air-filled part is percussed.[3]
  7. (chemistry) The property of a molecule whose structure is best described as a combination of several structural formulas.[3]
  8. (physics) A short-lived particle or excited state of one.[3]

Word family

  • antiresonance
  • hyperresonance
  • electron spin resonance
  • magnetic resonance imaging
  • nuclear magnetic resonance
  • resonate
  • resonator
  • resonant
  • resound
  • sonorous
  • sound

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins