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tuba

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Etymology and origin of the English word tuba

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈtjuː.bə/[1]
  • US: /ˈtu.bə/[1]

tuba1 brass instrument

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1852 The Crystal Palace and its Contents: an Illustrated Cyclopaedia
Borrowed from
Italian tuba
Ultimate origin
Latin tuba
Etymology tree of tuba1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tuba
English tuba
From the same root · tuba1
Latin tubicen ← tuba
Latin tubus ← tuba

Etymology

The word for the brass instrument is partly borrowed from Italian tuba and partly borrowed from Latin tuba (“trumpet, especially a war trumpet”),[2] the Italian word coming from the Latin.[3][4][5][6] Barnhart and Etymonline derive it instead from French tuba,[7][8] and Wiktionary from French, from German Tuba, originally Baß-Tuba (“bass tuba”), or from Italian.[1] The Latin word named the straight bronze war trumpet, as opposed to the crooked bucina.[8] The OED thinks it was perhaps originally a collective form of tubus (“tube”),[2] the source of tube, and most dictionaries relate the two;[3][7][8][9] Klein calls the Latin word of uncertain origin,[10] and Wiktionary suggests a connection with tībia (“shinbone, reed pipe”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A large brass instrument of bass pitch: 1852, in an illustrated cyclopaedia of the Crystal Palace and its contents.[2][7][8][6]

Semantic evolution

The Shorter Oxford records tuba for a trumpet in late Middle English, but only in that period.[11] The modern word named a new instrument: a valved bass brass instrument with a broad bell, usually facing upwards.[2][12] From 1858 it also named a high-pressure reed stop of an organ.[2] From 1882 it was used in writing about Rome for the ancient straight war trumpet,[2][11] for which the Latin plural tubae is used.[11][12] The OED also records it for a player of the instrument.[2]

Timeline

  • 1852 – a large brass instrument of bass pitch.[2][7][6]
  • 1858 – a reed stop in an organ.[2]
  • 1882 – the straight bronze war trumpet of the ancient Romans.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large brass instrument of low pitch with valves, a conical bore and a cup-shaped mouthpiece, usually held upright with the bell pointing up: Her brother plays the tuba in the school band.[12][6][2]
  2. Any other bass brass instrument, such as the euphonium or the helicon.[12]
  3. A powerful reed stop on an organ.[12][2]
  4. The straight war trumpet of ancient Rome.[12][2][13]

Word family

  • tubaist
  • saxtuba

tuba2 palm wine; derris

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1704 translation of Gemelli Careri's Voyage round the World
Borrowed from
Malay tūba
Ultimate origin
Malay tūba

Etymology

The word for palm wine and the fish-poison plant is borrowed from Malay tūba.[2][11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives it instead as from Tagalog tubâ,[6] and Wiktionary derives the Philippine sense, palm wine, from the Tagalog word.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fermented sap of the unopened flower buds of palms, palm wine: 1704, in the English translation of Gemelli Careri's Voyage round the World.[2][14]

Semantic evolution

Besides the fermented sap, the word named the spirit distilled from it.[2] From 1839, in Newbold's account of the Straits of Malacca, it was also the name of species of derris in the Malay archipelago and the Philippines, whose roots give a juice used to stupefy fish, and of the juice itself.[2][11] Merriam-Webster Unabridged extends it to other plants, such as the physic nut, whose sap, bark or seeds give such poisons.[6]

Timeline

  • 1704 – palm wine.[2][14]
  • 1839 – derris plants used to poison fish, and their juice.[2][14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The fermented sap of a palm, such as the coconut or nipa, drunk in the Philippines and the Malay archipelago; palm wine.[6][2][11]
  2. Any of several plants, especially species of derris, whose roots or other parts yield a poison used to stun fish; the poison itself.[6][2][11]

Usage notes

The plural of the instrument is tubas, also tubae.[12][6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged, the OED and the Shorter Oxford also record tuba or tuba tree, from 1817 in Thomas Moore's Lalla Rookh, for a mythical tree of the Muslim paradise: a word from Arabic, meaning "blessed", that occurs in the Qur'an (13:28) and that commentators took to name a tree; the OED takes the Arabic word to be from Aramaic.[6][2][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  13. ^ Webster's New World College Dictionary (2014), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  14. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Tuba.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/tuba. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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