Where does “Sound” come from?
Sound comes from Middle English sounden, from Old French sonder, from Proto-Germanic gasundaz, from Latin sonus meaning noise or tone, ultimately from Latin suus.
Ancestry of “Sound”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Middle English | sound | — |
| 2 | Old English | sund | swimming; sea, water |
| 3 | Old Norse | sund | swimming; strait, sound; swimming, sound |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | sundą | swimming; sound, strait |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | swimmaną | to be unsteady; to swim; float |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | swem(bʰ)- | to bend, turn, swing; to be unsteady, move, swim |