unísono

Forms

unísono (feminine unísona, masculine plural unísonos, feminine plural unísonas)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ūnisonus (“having the same sound”), a learned word.^[2][1][3] Corominas dates it to about 1440, in the Marqués de Santillana.^[3][4] The Latin adjective is formed from ūnus (“one”) and sonus (“sound”).^[1][5]

The same Latin word gave Italian unisono and French unisson.^[6] Spanish also had a shortened form unisón, used by Quevedo.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Santillana's Triumphete de Amor the word describes the songs of birds: unísonos, muy suaves, / triples, contras e tenores “in unison, very sweet, trebles, altos and tenors”, a list of musical voices.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades (1739) defined it as having the same sound as something else, quoting Palomino's Museo pictórico of 1708, which compares the proportions of a building to voices in unison.^[8][4] The Academy kept that definition through the 19th century and in 1899 added “tone” to it.^[9][10] The noun for a passage in which all the voices or instruments sound the same notes, and the phrase al unísono “unanimously, with one accord”, are given by the current dictionary.^[2][11] Records from the Americas run from Lima in 1791, of instruments with three strings in unison for each key, to the figurative al unísono of hearts beating together in Uruguay in 1928.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1440 – first record, in the Marqués de Santillana.^[3][4]
• 1708 – Palomino uses the word in his treatise on painting, the quotation of Autoridades.^[4][8]
• 1739 – Autoridades defines unísono as having the same sound as another thing.^[8]
• 1791 – first record from the Americas, in Lima.^[12]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary first gives the etymology, Latin unisonus.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having the same pitch or sound as something else: dos cuerdas unísonas.^[2][1]

Noun

1. (music) A passage in which all the voices or instruments sound the same notes; unison.^[2][1]

Related words

• sonar
• uno
• Latin ūnisonus

Usage notes

The phrase al unísono means “in unison” and, figuratively, “unanimously, with one accord”: Los vecinos protestaron al unísono.^[2][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. unísono
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. sonar
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 302
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. unísono
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. 8, 370
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 502
8. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 391
9. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 871
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 996
11. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. unísono
12. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. unísono