sound

English has four main words spelled sound, of different origins.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /saʊnd/^[3]

sound¹ noise

Etymology

The noise is inherited from Middle English soun, borrowed from Old French son (“sound, musical note, voice”),^[4][2] from Latin sonus (“sound, noise”),^[4][2][5] from Proto-Indo-European *swen- (“to sound”),^[4][1][2] the root also of Sanskrit svánati “it sounds” and Old English swinn “melody”.^[2][6] The final -d is unetymological and was established between about 1350 and 1550.^[4][7] The verb is inherited from Middle English sounen, from soner and directly from sonāre (“to sound”).^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

What is heard: about 1280, soun,^[2] or the late 13th century;^[4] the OED's earliest quotation for a particular auditory effect is from 1297.^[9] The verb “to make a sound” is from the early 13th century.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb “to cause an instrument to sound” is from the late 14th century.^[4] “To seem, give an impression”, as in it sounds good, developed from the verb.^[10][9] Sound wave is by 1848, sound effect by 1909, at first live accompaniment to silent films, sound barrier from 1939 and sound check by 1977.^[4] The sounding board was first a canopy over a pulpit, from 1766.^[4] Sound off, “to speak out loudly, complain”, is from 1918, American.^[9]

Timeline

• early 13th century – verb, to make a sound.^[4]
• c. 1280 – noun, soun.^[2]
• c. 1350–1550 – the spelling with -d.^[4]
• late 14th century – verb, to play an instrument.^[4]
• 1848 – sound wave.^[4]
• 1909 – sound effect.^[4]
• 1918 – sound off.^[9]
• 1939 – sound barrier.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Vibrations in the air or another medium that can be heard by the ear.
2. The sensation produced in the ear by such vibrations; a noise.
3. A distinctive sound, as of a style of music; a speech sound.
4. The impression given by something said or written: the sound of the plan.

Verb

1. To make or give forth a sound.
2. To give a particular impression; to seem.
3. To cause to make a sound; to signal by a sound: sound the alarm.
4. To pronounce.

Word family

• soundproof
• soundtrack
• sound effect
• sound barrier
• soundless

sound² healthy

Etymology

The healthy is inherited from Middle English sund, inherited from Old English gesund (“sound, safe, healthy”), with loss of the prefix,^[2][4][11] from Proto-Germanic *sundaz,^[4] West Germanic.^[7][12] Its cognates include Old Saxon gisund, Old Frisian sund, Dutch gezond and German gesund (“healthy”), as in gesundheit.^[4][7] Merriam-Webster and Etymonline relate Gothic swinþs “strong”.^[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Unhurt, healthy: Old English gesund, about 725, in Beowulf,^[2] and Middle English sund before 1200, in Layamon.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Safe and sound has been paired alliteratively since about 1300.^[4] “Free from defect, decay or damage” is from about 1290.^[9] “Correct, in accord with the facts” is from the mid-15th century,^[4][11] “holding accepted opinions” from the 1520s, and of arguments, “without logical flaw”, from the 1570s.^[4] Of sleep, “undisturbed”, it is from the 1540s,^[4] and to sleep sound from before 1400.^[9] “Financially secure” is from about 1600.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English gesund (Beowulf).^[2]
• c. 1290 – free from damage.^[9]
• c. 1300 – safe and sound.^[4]
• mid-15th century – correct.^[4]
• 1540s – of sleep, deep.^[4]
• 1570s – of arguments, valid.^[4]
• c. 1600 – financially secure.^[4]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Free from defect, decay or damage; free from disease or injury.
2. Having a firm basis; financially secure.
3. Based on valid reasoning; sensible.
4. Thorough; deep and unbroken: a sound sleep.

Adverb

1. Thoroughly, deeply: sound asleep.

Word family

• soundly
• soundness
• unsound

sound³ channel of water

Etymology

The channel is inherited from Middle English sound, partly inherited from Old English sund (“swimming; a stretch of water, the sea”) and partly from the Scandinavian cognate, Old Norse sund (“a strait, swimming”),^[2][4][8] from Proto-Germanic *sundą,^[4] from the base of swim.^[4][7][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A narrow channel of water, a strait: before 1300, in King Horn,^[2][9] or about 1300.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could still mean “swimming, the ability to swim”, an Old English sense.^[4][9] The swim bladder of a fish, especially the cod, is a sound from 1323–4,^[9] a sense still used in Scotland and Yorkshire.^[13]

Timeline

• before 1300 – a strait (King Horn).^[2]
• 1323–4 – a fish's swim bladder.^[9]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long, wide body of water connecting larger bodies of water; a strait.
2. A long ocean inlet.
3. The swim bladder of a fish.

sound⁴ measure depth, probe

Etymology

The probing is inherited from Middle English sounden, borrowed from Old French sonder (“to use the sounding line”),^[2][4][8] from sonde (“sounding line”), probably of Germanic origin,^[8][1] perhaps the source of Old English sund (“water, sea”), as in sundlīne “sounding line”.^[4][6][8] The SOED, the COED and Hoad derive it instead from a Romance verb *subundāre, from Latin sub (“under”) and unda (“wave”),^[7][12][11] a theory that Barnhart dismisses.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To sink in, penetrate: about 1385, in Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde,^[2] and to measure the depth of water before 1460^[2] or the mid-14th century, implied in sounding.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “to try to discover what is concealed, find out someone's views” is from the 1570s.^[4] A surgeon's probe is a sound from 1797,^[9] or 1739 in Merriam-Webster.^[6] Of a whale, “to dive deep”, the verb is an American use.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – to penetrate (Chaucer).^[2]
• before 1460 – to measure the depth of water.^[2]
• 1570s – to find out someone's views.^[4]
• 1797 – noun, a surgical probe.^[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To measure the depth of water, as with a weighted line; to fathom.
2. To try to learn the opinions of: sound out.
3. To examine a body cavity with a probe.
4. Of a whale, to dive swiftly downward.

Noun

1. A slender instrument for examining body cavities; a probe.

Word family

• sounding
• sounding line
• echo sounder

Related words

• sonic
• sonnet
• resound
• swim
• swoon
• unison

Usage notes

A fifth sound, “a swoon, faint”, is a Scots and dialect variant of swoon with a parasitic d, from the 15th century.^[7][9]

References

1. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ 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 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)