Etymograph

English

resound

Resound comes from Latin resonō ‘to ring or sound again, re-echo, resound’, 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*swonh₂éyeti2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonaō2reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonō1‘to make a noise, resound, sound’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonō1‘to ring or sound again, re-echo, resound’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonāre1present active infinitive of resonō
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600resoner1
  8. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400resoner1
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500resounen1‘to return with an echo, resound’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1579resound1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English resound
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin sono
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, August. Ægloga Octaua.: “The foreſt wide is fitter to reſound / The…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-Wiktionary, English resound‘to sound’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swonh₂éyetiWiktionary, Latin sonoreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonaōWiktionary, Latin sonoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonōWiktionary, English resound‘to make a noise, resound, sound’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonōWiktionary, English resound‘to ring or sound again, re-echo, resound’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonāreWiktionary, English resoundpresent active infinitive of resonō
  7. Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600resonerWiktionary, English resound
  8. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400resonerWiktionary, English resound
  9. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500resounenWiktionary, English resound‘to return with an echo, resound’
  10. Englishearliest quotation 1579resoundWiktionary, English resound. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1579, Immeritô pseudonym; Edmund Spenser, August. Ægloga Octaua.: “The foreſt wide is fitter to reſound / The…”

Formed from re- + sound ‘to produce a sound’

Proto-Italic *wre- ‘again’

English re-

Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- ‘to sound, resound’

Latin sonus ‘sound’

Anglo-Norman soun

Middle English soun

Middle English sownde

English sound

Linked words

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

swan, unison, sonnet, sone, 11 more

through Proto-Italic *swonaō

impersonal, 6 more

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

personal, personnel, parson, consonance, sonorous, 7 more

through Latin resonō ‘to ring or sound again, re-echo, resound’

re, resonance, resonate, resonant

Another origin of resound

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-‘to sound’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swónh₂osreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonus‘sound, noise’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEresonus‘echoing, resounding’
  6. Old Frenchc. 842–1400reson
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500resoun
  8. Englishtodayresound

From Late Middle English resoun, reson (‘echoing or reverberating sound; clangour, din, noise’), from Old French reson, and from its etymon Latin resonus (‘echoing, resounding’), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) + sonus (‘sound; noise; pitch; speech; (figuratively) character, style, tone; tongue, voice’) (from sonō (verb) (see further at etymology 1) + -us (suffix forming nouns)). Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)

Today it means

verb To make (sounds), or to speak (words), loudly or reverberatingly.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “resound”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sono. 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- / resound

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