tonetone

Tone comes from Latin tonus, from Ancient Greek τόνος ‘tension, pitch’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ten- ‘to stretch’.

1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ten-¹‘to stretch’reconstructed
2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*tónos²‘stretching’reconstructedinnovative ye-present of *ten-
3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tónos²‘tension’reconstructed
4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόνος²tónos‘strain, tension, pitch’
5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtonus²‘sound, tone’
6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ton²‘tone, sound’
7. Englishearliest quotation 1850tone²

1. ¹ Wiktionary, Ancient Greek τείνω
2. ² Wiktionary, English tone
3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1850, William Cullen Bryant: “Their tone was dissatisfied, almost menacing.”.