tonal

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin tonālis (“of or relating to musical tone”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} recorded in the 11th century,^[2] from Latin tonus (“sound, tone”) and the suffix -ālis.^[2][3] The noun comes from tonāle, the neuter of the adjective used as a noun.^[2] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “string, stretching”),^[7][8] the source of tone.^[7][6] Etymonline also allows that the adjective may have been formed in English from tone and -al.^[8] The OED compares French tonal, used in music from 1736 or earlier.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun, a liturgical book with the melodies for plainsong in the Divine Office: perhaps before 1500, in a Latin–English word list.^[2] The adjective is first recorded in 1776, in J. Hawkins's General History of Music, of the eight modes of plainsong.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first belonged to church music, describing the plainsong modes;^[2][4][5] the Shorter Oxford finds that use only in the late 18th century.^[5] In the 19th century it took on the sense still central in music, of music written in the system of keys and harmony usual in Western music since about 1700 (1820 in the OED,^[2] by 1884 in Etymonline^[8]); in the 20th century this sense was set against atonal.^[9][3][8] A tonal fugue or sequence, from 1834, alters the intervals of the subject so as to stay in one key.^[2][9][3] Outside music the word followed the senses of tone: of languages that use pitch to tell words apart (1871, in a grammar of Shan),^[2] of shades of colour and light (1890),^[2] and of the tone of a piece of writing (1895).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – noun, a book of plainsong melodies.^[2]
• 1776 – of the modes of plainsong.^[2][3][8]
• 1820 – of music in a key, using conventional Western harmony.^[2]
• 1834 – of a fugue or sequence kept in one key.^[2]
• 1846 – of musical pitch or timbre in general.^[2]
• 1871 – of a language that uses pitch to distinguish words.^[2]
• 1890 – of shades of colour or light and shade.^[2]
• 1895 – of the tone of a piece of writing or speech.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to tone, musical pitch or timbre: the tonal qualities of an old violin.^[9][3][2]
2. (music) Written in a key and using the diatonic system; having tonality, as opposed to atonal.^[9][3][2]
3. (music) Of a fugue answer or a sequence: changing the intervals of the subject so as to stay in the original key.^[9][3][2]
4. (linguistics) Of a language: using differences of pitch to distinguish words that are otherwise the same.^[2]
5. Of or relating to shades of colour, or to light and shade, as in painting or photography.^[2]
6. Of or relating to the general tone or mood of a piece of writing or speech.^[2]

Word family

• tonally
• monotonal
• pantonal
• polytonal
• semitonal
• tonalist

Related words

• tonality
• tone
• atonal
• tonic

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins