Etymograph

English

sound

Sound (noise) comes from Middle English sownde, from soun, from Anglo-Norman soun, from Latin sonus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-1‘to sound, resound’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonus1‘sound’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400soun1
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500soun1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sownde1
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590sound1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sound
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “So ſound he ſlept, that nought mought him awake.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-Wiktionary, English sound‘to sound, resound’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonusWiktionary, English sound‘sound’
  3. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400sounWiktionary, English sound
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sounWiktionary, English sound
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sowndeWiktionary, English sound
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1590soundWiktionary, English sound. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book I, Canto I: “So ſound he ſlept, that nought mought him awake.”

The story

Possibly related also to Dutch gezwind (‘fast, quick’), German geschwind (‘fast, quick’), Old English swīþ (‘strong, mighty, powerful, active, severe, violent’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂-

Another origin of sound

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swenh₂-‘to sound, resound’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swónh₂osreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*swonosreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsonus‘sound, noise’next step skipped: Old French soner
  5. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400sun
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sownde
  7. Englishtodaysound

Another origin of sound

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*swem-‘swimming’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sundą‘swimming’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*sundreconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150sund‘the power, capacity, or act of swimming’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sound
  6. Englishtodaysound

Another origin of sound

  1. Old Frenchc. 842–1400sonder
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500sounden
  3. Englishtodaysound

Today it means

adj Healthy.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sound”. 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- / sound

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