Etymograph

English

resonate

Resonate comes from Latin resonō ‘to sound or ring again, resound, reecho’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-1‘to sound’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swonh₂éyeti1reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonaō1‘to sound, resound’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonō1‘to sound, resound, make a sound or noise’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonō1‘to sound or ring again, resound, reecho’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013resonate1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English resonate
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Darin Jewell, Conrad Jones: “Because of Reddit's voting system, the visibility of content…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-Wiktionary, English resonate‘to sound’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swonh₂éyetiWiktionary, English resonatereconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonaōWiktionary, English resonate‘to sound, resound’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonōWiktionary, English resonate‘to sound, resound, make a sound or noise’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonōWiktionary, English resonate‘to sound or ring again, resound, reecho’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013resonateWiktionary, English resonate. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Darin Jewell, Conrad Jones: “Because of Reddit's voting system, the visibility of content…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ‘to sound’

sound, swan, unison, sonnet, sone, 12 more

through Proto-Italic *swonaō ‘to sound, resound’

impersonal, 8 more

through Latin sonō ‘to sound, resound, make a sound or noise’

personal, personnel, parson, sonorous, consonance, 9 more

through Latin resonō ‘to sound or ring again, resound, reecho’

re, resound, 2 more

Today it means

verb To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “resonate”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- / resonate

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