'Resonance' is Latin for 'sounding back' — from 'sonare' (to sound). Kin to 'sonic' and 'sonata.'
The quality of being resonant; a deep, full, reverberating sound; the reinforcement of sound by reflection or by sympathetic vibration of other bodies.
From Middle French 'résonance,' from Latin 'resonantia' (echo, reverberation), from 'resonāre' (to resound, to echo back), composed of 're-' (back, again) and 'sonāre' (to sound, to make a noise). The Latin 'sonāre' derives from Proto-Indo-European *swenh₂- (to sound, to resonate). The word entered English in the late fifteenth century as a term for the prolongation and amplification of sound, later expanding to figurative uses — an argument can 'resonate' with an audience. Key roots: re- (Latin: "back, again"), sonāre (Latin: "to sound, to
The Latin root 'sonāre' (to sound) is one of the most productive roots in English musical vocabulary, giving us 'sonic,' 'sonnet,' 'sonata,' 'sonar,' 'consonant,' 'dissonant,' 'unison,' and 'person' — the last from Latin 'persōna' (mask, character), literally 'that through which sound passes' (per + sonāre), referring to the actor's mask that amplified the voice in Roman theater.