Etymograph

English

tuba

Tuba may come from French tuba.

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presenttubauncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1990same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Frenchc. 1600–presenttubauncertain
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1990same form

Earliest quotation: 1990, Thomas D. Rossing, The Science of Sound: “One version of the large tuba, popular in marching…”

The story

Borrowed in the 19th century from French tuba (‘tuba’), German Tuba (‘tuba’), originally Baß-Tuba (literally “bass tuba”), or Italian tuba (‘tuba’), from Latin tuba (‘tube, trumpet, military trumpet’). The Latin term is of obscure ultimate origin, but is possibly connected to tībia (‘shinbone, reed-pipe’); see there.uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.

Linked words

through Ancient Greek σίφων ‘siphon, tube’

siphon, tibial, 9 more

through Latin tībia ‘shinbone, reed-pipe’

tibia, 5 more

through Latin tuba ‘tube, trumpet, military trumpet’

tubular, tubule, 1 more

Another origin of tuba

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEσίφωνsíphōn‘siphon, tube’uncertainearlier origin unknown
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtībia‘shinbone, reed-pipe’uncertain
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEtuba‘long trumpet over 1 meter in length, especially a war-trumpet’
  4. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of tuba

  1. Proto-Austronesianprehistoric (reconstructed)*tubahreconstructed
  2. Proto-Malayo-Polynesianprehistoric (reconstructed)same form‘Derris elliptica’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Malayicprehistoric (reconstructed)*tubareconstructed
  4. Malaymoderntuba
  5. Englishtodaysame form

Another origin of tuba

  1. Tagalogmoderntuba
  2. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun A large brass musical instrument, usually in the bass range, played through a vibration of the lips upon the mouthpiece and fingering of the keys.

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

Etymograph / French tuba / tuba

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