harmony: [14] The etymological idea behind harmony is ‘fitting things together’ – that is, of combining notes in an aesthetically pleasing manner. It comes via Old French harmonie and Latin harmonia from Greek harmoníā ‘means of joining’, hence ‘agreement, concord’, a derivative of harmós ‘joint’. As a musical term in Greek it appears to have denoted ‘scale’, or more simply just ‘music’, and its original use in English was for what we would now call ‘melody’.
It was not applied to the combination of notes to form chords (a practice which originated in the 9th century) until the 16th century. The term harmonica was coined in 1762 by the American physicist and statesman Benjamin Franklin for a musical instrument consisting of a set of water-filled glasses tuned to different notes and played with the fingers. It was first applied to the mouth-organ in the 19th century.
harmony (n.)
late 14c., "combination of tones pleasing to the ear," from Old French harmonie, armonie "harmony," also the name of a musical instrument (12c.), from Latin harmonia, from Greek harmonia "agreement, concord of sounds," also as a proper name, the personification of music, literally "means of joining," used of ship-planks, etc., also "settled government, order," related to harmos "fastenings of a door; shoulder," from PIE *ar-ti-, from *ar- "to fit together" (see arm (n.1)). Modern scientific harmony, using combinations of notes to form chords, is from 16c. Sense of "agreement of feeling, concord" is from late 14c.
实用例句
1. As they smiled at each other, harmony was restored again.
他们彼此微笑的时候，又恢复了往日的和睦。
来自柯林斯例句
2. the need to be in harmony with our environment
同我们的环境协调的必要
来自《权威词典》
3. The new agreement raised hopes for conditions of prosperity and harmony.
新的协议唤起了人们对繁荣与和谐前景的期望.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. His ideas were no longer in harmony with ours.
他同我们的想法不再一致了.
来自《简明英汉词典》
5. The harmony of sea and sky makes a beautiful picture.
