Tone
Middle English: from Old French ton, from Latin tonus, from Greek tonos ‘tension, tone’, from teinein ‘to stretch’.
wiktionary
From Middle English ton, tone, from Latin tonus(“sound, tone”) (possibly through Old French ton [1]), from Ancient Greek τόνος(tónos, “strain, tension, pitch”), from τείνω(teínō, “I stretch”). Doublet of tune, ton, and tonus.
From Middle English tone, ton, toon, from the incorrect division of thet one(“the/that one”). Compare Scots tane in the tane; see also tother.
etymonline
tone (n.)
mid-14c., "musical sound or note," from Old French ton "musical sound, speech, words" (13c.) and directly from Latin tonus "a sound, tone, accent," literally "stretching" (in Medieval Latin, a term peculiar to music), from Greek tonos "vocal pitch, raising of voice, accent, key in music," originally "a stretching, tightening, taut string," related to teinein "to stretch," from PIE root *ten- "to stretch." Sense of "manner of speaking" is from c. 1600. First reference to firmness of body is from 1660s. As "prevailing state of manners" from 1735; as "style in speaking or writing which reveals attitude" from 1765. Tone-deaf is from 1880; tone-poem from 1845.
tone (v.)
"to impart tone to," 1811, from tone (n.). Related: Toned; toning. To tone (something) down originally was in painting (1831); general sense of "reduce, moderate" is by 1847.
