sonata

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian sonata (“a piece of instrumental music”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} literally "sounded", that is, played on an instrument as opposed to a cantata, which is sung.^[3][4][7] The Italian word is the noun use of the feminine past participle of sonare (“to sound”),^[2][4][8][6] from Latin sonō (“to sound”),^[4][5][3] from Proto-Indo-European *swen- (“to sound”).^[4][5] In Italian sonata meant "a sound" before 1410 and a composition for instruments by 1611, in Florio's dictionary.^[2] sonate is recorded from 1695 and Sonate from 1697 or earlier.^[2] The English form “sonato” probably shows uncertainty about the final vowel of Romance loanwords.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A musical composition for instruments, as opposed to a cantata for voices: 1683, in a title by Purcell.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1694,^[3][9] and Etymonline to the 1690s.^[4]

Semantic evolution

At first a sonata was any composition for instruments,^[4][8][2] and Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "a tune", quoting Addison's whistling of "a Scotch tune, and an Italian sonata".^[10] By the middle of the 18th century the meaning had narrowed to large works in three or four movements in related keys and contrasting rhythms, especially for the piano.^[4] The OED's later sense is a composition for a solo instrument, often with piano accompaniment;^[2] Hoad and the Shorter Oxford describe it as a work for one or two instruments, usually in several movements.^[8][6] From 1780 the word was also used of the class of music that sonatas represent.^[2] Merriam-Webster keeps a separate sense for the sonatas of the 17th and 18th centuries for solo instruments and continuo,^[9] and Collins one for the single-movement keyboard pieces of the baroque.^[11]

Timeline

• 1683 – a composition for instruments, as opposed to a cantata.^[2] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster date it to 1694.^[3][9]
• mid 18th century – a large work in three or four movements, especially for the piano.^[4]
• 1780 – sonatas as a class of music.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An instrumental composition, usually in three or four movements of contrasting form and tempo, for a solo instrument such as the piano, or for one instrument with piano: a cello sonata.^[11][9][6]
2. A composition of the 17th and 18th centuries in several movements for one or more solo instruments and continuo.^[9]
3. A keyboard piece in one movement of the baroque period.^[11]
4. Sonatas collectively, as a kind of music.^[2]

Word family

• sonata form

Related words

• sonatina
• sound
• sonant
• cantata

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
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