Etymograph

English

ton

Ton comes from English tun ‘cask’.

  1. English1500–presenttun‘cask’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1970ton

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. English1500–presenttun‘cask’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1970ton

Earliest quotation: 1970, Mungo Jerry, In The Summertime: “Speed along the lane / Do a ton or…”

The story

Variant of tun (‘cask’), influenced by Old French tonne (‘ton’).

Every English word from English tun

Another origin of ton

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ten-‘stretch’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*tón-osreconstructed
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*tónos‘rope, cord’reconstructed
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEτόνος‘tone’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtonus‘the pitch, sound or tone of something’
  6. Frenchc. 1600–presentton‘manner’
  7. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun The short ton of 2000 pounds (about 907 kg), 20 hundredweights of 100 pounds avoirdupois each.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / English tun / ton

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