τόνος

Forms

τόνος (tónos) m (genitive τόνου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an o-grade noun from Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō, “to stretch, pull tight”),^[2][3][4] continuing inherited from Proto-Hellenic *tónos, from Proto-Indo-European *tón-os, a noun of the root *ten- (“to stretch”).^[1][5] Beekes writes the root *ten(h₂)- (“to draw, stretch”), which is found in most branches of Indo-European; from its full grade come Greek τένων (ténōn, “tendon”) and the s-stem in ἀτενής (atenḗs, “strained, intent”).^[2] The same o-grade is seen in compounds such as παλίντονος (palíntonos, “back-stretched”) and πρότονος (prótonos, “forestay”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first texts are Pindar and a fragment of Sophocles; in Herodotus it is a cord of a bed and the tension of cables.^[6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense is “that which is stretched”: the cords of a bed, the strands of a rope, the sinews of an animal in Hippocratic medicine, and later the twisted skeins of gut that powered torsion catapults.^[7][3] From this came “tension, strain”, and, of sounds, the raising and strength of the voice in the Attic orators.^[7][3] In Plato, Xenophon and Aristotle it is the pitch of the voice or of music, and Herodotus uses it for the metre of oracular verses.^[3] The grammarians used it for the word accent, whence compounds such as ὀξύτονος (oxútonos) and βαρύτονος (barútonos).^[2] Later prose used it figuratively for force or vigour, and Plutarch speaks of the τόνος of anger.^[8][7]

It was borrowed as Latin tonus, the source of French ton.^[9] In Modern Greek τόνος (tónos) is a learned word, which continues the ancient one and has taken some of its senses from French ton.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar has the word, the first text in the GLAUx corpus to use it.^[6][11]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for the cords of beds and for the tension of cables.^[7][3][11]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings call the sinews or tendons of animals τόνοι.^[7][11]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon use it for the pitch of the voice and of music.^[3][11]
• 4th century BC – Aeschines and Demosthenes use it for the raising of the voice.^[7][11]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for the ropes of a catapult and for the force of anger.^[7][3][8]
• Modern Greek – Modern Greek τόνος (tónos) is a learned word, partly modelled on French ton.^[9][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which is stretched: a cord, rope or strand; the cords of a bed.^[7][3]
2. (anatomy) A sinew or tendon.^[7]
3. (mechanics) The twisted skein of gut in a torsion engine.^[7][3]
4. Tension, strain, tightness, as of cables, lyre strings or a bow.^[7][3]
5. The strength or raising of the voice.^[7][3]
6. The pitch of the voice or of music; a note, tone.^[3][7]
7. The metre of verses.^[3]
8. (grammar) The accent of a word.^[2]
9. (figurative) Force, vigour, intensity.^[8][3]

Word family

• βαρύτονος (barútonos)
• ὀξύτονος (oxútonos)
• παροξύτονος (paroxútonos)
• προπαροξύτονος (proparoxútonos)
• τονικός (tonikós)

Related words

• τείνω (teínō)
• τένων (ténōn)
• Latin tonus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Wodtko, Dagmar S.; Irslinger, Britta; Schneider, Carolin (2008), Nomina im indogermanischen Lexikon, Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
10. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
11. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge