Art & MusicGreek → English
Euphonium
/juːˈfoʊniəm/noun
A tenor brass instrument with a conical bore and a mellow tone.
The Greek roots
εὖ
eû
well, good
φωνή
phōnḗ
voice, sound
Literally: “the sweet-voiced one”
The story of the word
εὔφωνος means sweet-voiced, so the name is an advertisement. The instrument appeared in Germany in the 1840s, part of the wave of valved brass that followed the piston valve, and its selling point was tone: it replaced the ophicleide, a keyed bass horn that players struggled to keep in tune. The claim held, and British brass bands built their middle voice on it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
euphonyeuphemismsymphonytelephone
In a sentence
He plays euphonium in the colliery band his grandfather joined.