ton French · revision 15928

+ French has two common words spelled ''ton'': the possessive determiner “your”, inherited from Latin, and the noun “tone”, a learned borrowing from Latin ''tonus''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

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+ {{homograph|1|your}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion de Clermont|origins=la tū}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɔ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /tɔ̃.n‿/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /tɔ.n‿/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): /tõ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ton''' ''m'' (feminine ta, plural tes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The possessive is [[inh|fro|ton]], from the unstressed Vulgar Latin forms of [[la|tuus|t=your, thy]] (accusative “tuum”):^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|13/2, 451b) “tus”, “tum”, contracted in proclitic position, which the Toulouse grammarian Virgilius Maro already noted in the 6th century.^(TLFi) The stressed forms gave [[tien]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) Latin “tuus” is from [[m|la|tū|t=you (singular)]].^(GLLF 1989)

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+ Cognate with [[ro|tău]], [[it|tuo]], [[pro|to]], [[ca|teu]], [[es|tu]] and [[pt|teu]].^(REW 1935)

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+ ==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.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French distinguished the subject case ''tis'' (singular) and ''ti'' (plural) from the oblique ''ton'' and ''tes''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The feminine ''ta'' was elided before a vowel (''t'anme'' “thy soul”, ''Chanson de Roland''), as in ''tante'' from ''ta ante'';^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) from the 13th–14th century ''ton'' replaced ''ta'' before a vowel (''ton amie''), a use Littré called a solecism that became standard.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Tos'', ''ton'' in the ''Passion'' of Clermont.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – Anglo-Norman ''tun'' in ''Saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – ''T'anme'' in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 14th century – ''Ton'' before feminine nouns beginning with a vowel.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Determiner===

+ # [[m|en|your|alt=Your]] (singular, familiar): ''ton livre'', ''ta maison'', ''tes amis'', ''ton'' is used for ''ta'' before a vowel: ''ton amie''.^(Le Robert)^(TLFi)

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+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tien]]

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+ {{homograph|2|tone}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 11th century|origins=grc τείνω}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɔ̃/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /tɔ̃.n‿/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /tɔ.n‿/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): /tõ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ton''' ''m'' (plural tons)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun is [[bor|la|tonus|t=sound of an instrument; accent; tension]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 33b) from [[grc|τόνος|tr=tónos|t=cord; tension; pitch]], a noun of [[m|grc|τείνω|tr=teínō|t=to stretch]], of the Indo-European root [[ine-pro|*ten-|t=to stretch]], also behind [[tenir]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Bloch and Wartburg note that the word was always a learned one, even in Latin.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It is a doublet of [[tonus]], a later borrowing.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==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.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French it also meant the air of a song and the sound of voices;^(DHLF 1992) 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.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) 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);^(DHLF 1992) ''donner le ton'' (1608), earlier ''bailler le ton'', passed into figurative use (1718).^(DHLF 1992) 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).^(DHLF 1992)

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+ In phonetics it is the pitch accent of a syllable (1550), and ''langues à ton'' are tone languages;^(DHLF 1992) a 1616 account of China already describes its five ''tons''.^(BHVF) In painting it is the strength and brightness of a colour (1669).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 11th century – A musical pitch.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1200 – A manner of speaking.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – A musical key, ''bailler le ton''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1578 – The interval of a tone.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1616 – The tones of Chinese.^(BHVF)

+ * 1669 – The tone of a colour.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1823 – ''De bon ton''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The pitch or quality of the voice; a [[m|en|tone]] of voice: ''sur un ton sec'', ''hausser le ton''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # 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.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(music)'' A key; the interval of a whole tone.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(phonetics)'' The pitch of a syllable: ''langue à tons''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A shade or tint of colour: ''ton sur ton''.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tonal]]

+ * [[tonalité]]

+ * [[entonner]]

+ * [[détonner]]

+ * [[intonation]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tonus]]

+ * [[tonique]]

+ * [[en|tone]]

+ * [[en|tune]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}