ton

French has two common words spelled ton: the possessive determiner “your”, inherited from Latin, and the noun “tone”, a learned borrowing from Latin tonus.^[1][2][3]

ton¹ your

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɔ̃/^[3]
• IPA: /tɔ̃.n‿/^[3]
• IPA: /tɔ.n‿/^[3]
• IPA (Quebec): /tõ/^[3]

Forms

ton m (feminine ta, plural tes)^[3]

Etymology

The possessive is inherited from Old French ton, from the unstressed Vulgar Latin forms of Latin tuus (“your, thy”) (accusative “tuum”):^[2][1][3][4] “tus”, “tum”, contracted in proclitic position, which the Toulouse grammarian Virgilius Maro already noted in the 6th century.^[2] The stressed forms gave tien.^[2][1] Latin “tuus” is from tū (“you (singular)”).^[5]

Cognate with Romanian tău, Italian tuo, Old Occitan to, Catalan teu, Spanish tu and Portuguese teu.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Léger and the Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) have the subject form tos and the oblique ton, to, under Occitan influence.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old French distinguished the subject case tis (singular) and ti (plural) from the oblique ton and tes.^[2][7] The feminine ta was elided before a vowel (t'anme “thy soul”, Chanson de Roland), as in tante from ta ante;^[2][1] from the 13th–14th century ton replaced ta before a vowel (ton amie), a use Littré called a solecism that became standard.^[2][7]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – Tos, ton in the Passion of Clermont.^[2]
• c. 1050 – Anglo-Norman tun in Saint Alexis.^[2]
• c. 1100 – T'anme in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 14th century – Ton before feminine nouns beginning with a vowel.^[7][2]

Meanings

Determiner

1. Your (singular, familiar): ton livre, ta maison, tes amis, ton is used for ta before a vowel: ton amie.^[8][2]

Word family

• tien

ton² tone

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tɔ̃/^[3]
• IPA: /tɔ̃.n‿/^[3]
• IPA: /tɔ.n‿/^[3]
• IPA (Quebec): /tõ/^[3]

Forms

ton m (plural tons)^[3]

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Latin tonus (“sound of an instrument; accent; tension”),^{[2][9][10][11]} from Ancient Greek τόνος (tónos, “cord; tension; pitch”), a noun of τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”), of the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”), also behind tenir.^[9][12] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word was always a learned one, even in Latin.^[10] It is a doublet of tonus, a later borrowing.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears at the end of the 11th century (about 1180 according to the TLFi) as a term of music, the pitch of an instrument's sound.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Old French it also meant the air of a song and the sound of voices;^[9] from the 12th century it named the pitch of the voice, whence a haut ton “aloud” (early 13th century), and about 1200 a manner of speaking expressing a state of mind.^[9][12] With the Renaissance it became a technical term of music: a scale named after its tonic (1549) and the interval of a whole tone (1578);^[9] donner le ton (1608), earlier bailler le ton, passed into figurative use (1718).^[9] In the 17th century it meant the manner of behaving in society (1678, hence le bon ton, de bon ton 1823) and the style of a written work (Pascal, 1658).^[9]

In phonetics it is the pitch accent of a syllable (1550), and langues à ton are tone languages;^[9] a 1616 account of China already describes its five tons.^[13] In painting it is the strength and brightness of a colour (1669).^[9]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – A musical pitch.^[9]
• c. 1200 – A manner of speaking.^[9]
• 1549 – A musical key, bailler le ton.^[9]
• 1578 – The interval of a tone.^[9]
• 1616 – The tones of Chinese.^[13]
• 1669 – The tone of a colour.^[9]
• 1823 – De bon ton.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The pitch or quality of the voice; a tone of voice: sur un ton sec, hausser le ton.^[12][14]
2. The style or tone of a text, a conversation or a gathering, donner le ton: to set the tone, de bon ton: in good taste.^[14][9]
3. (music) A key; the interval of a whole tone.^[3][9]
4. (phonetics) The pitch of a syllable: langue à tons.^[9]
5. A shade or tint of colour: ton sur ton.^[3][9]

Word family

• tonal
• tonalité
• entonner
• détonner
• intonation

Related words

• tonus
• tonique
• English tone
• English tune

References

1. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 451b
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 33b
12. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
14. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)