Online Etymology Dictionary

harmony: late 14c., from O.Fr. armonie, from L. harmonia, from Gk. harmonia "agreement, concord of sounds," lit. "means of joining," related to harmos "joint, shoulder," from PIE *ar-ti-, from *ar- "to fit together." Musical sense is oldest in Eng.; that of "agreement of feeling, concord" is from 1580s.
symphony: late 13c., the name of various musical instruments, from O.Fr. symphonie "harmony" (12c.), from L. symphonia "a unison of sounds, harmony," from Gk. symphonia "harmony, concert," from symphonos "harmonious," from syn- "together" + phone "voice, sound" (see fame). Meaning "harmony of sounds" is attested from mid-15c.; sense of "music in parts" is from 1590s. "It was only after the advent of Haydn that this word began to mean a sonata for full orchestra. Before that time it meant a prelude, postlude, or interlude, or any short instrumental work." ["Elson's Music Dictionary"] Meaning "elaborate orchestral composition" first attested 1789 (symphonic in this sense is from 1864). Elliptical for "symphony orchestra" from 1926.
philharmonic: 1813 (name of a society founded in London for the promotion of instrumental music), from Fr. philharmonique (1739), from It. filarmonico, lit. "loving harmony," from Gk. philos "loving" + ta harmonika "theory of harmony, music," from neut. pl. of harmonikos (see harmonic).
doo-wop: 1969, from the nonsense harmony phrases sung under the vocal lead.
Sweet Adeline: "female barbershop singing group," 1947, from the name of a popular close harmony song by Armstrong & Gerard, prop. "You're the Flower of my Heart, Sweet Adeline" (1903).
Anacreontic: of or in the manner of Anacreon, "convivial bard of Greece," the celebrated Gk. lyrical poet, born at Teos in Ionia (560-478 B.C.E.). In ref. to his lyric form (1706) of a four-line stanza, rhymed alternately, each line with four beats (three trochees and a long syllable), also "convivial and amatory" (1801); and "an erotic poem celebrating love and wine" (1650s). Francis Scott Key in 1814 set or wrote his poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" to the melody of "To Anacreon in Heav'n," the drinking song of the popular London gentleman's club called The Anacreontic Society, whose membership was dedicated to "wit, harmony, and the god of wine."
To Anacreon in Heav'n, where he sat in full glee,
A few Sons of Harmony sent a petition;
That he their Inspirer and Patron wou'd be;
When this answer arrived from the Jolly Old Grecian;
"Voice, Fiddle, and Flute,
No longer be mute,
I'll lend you my name and inspire you to boot,
And besides I'll instruct you like me, to intwine,
The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's Vine."
The tune is late 18c. and may be the work of society member and court musician John Stafford Smith (1750-1836).
attune: 1590s, from tune, "probably suggested by ATONE" [OED]. Attunement "bringing into harmony" is recorded from 1866.
Concorde: supersonic passenger airliner, operating from 1976 to 2003, from Fr. concorde, lit. "harmony, agreement" (see concord), reflecting the Anglo-French collaborative agreement that produced it.
raga: 1788, from Skt. raga-s "harmony, melody, mode in music," lit. "color, mood," related to rajyati "it is dyed."
hautboy: 1575, from Fr. hautbois "high wood" (see oboe).
"This Pageaunt waz clozd vp with a delectable harmony of Hautboiz, Shalmz, Coronets, and such oother looud muzik." [Robert Laneham, 1575]
consistency: 1590s, "firmness of matter," from L. consistentem, from consistere (see consist). Meaning "state of being in agreement or harmony" (with something) is from 1650s; meaning "self-consistent" is from 1716.
jibe: "agree, fit," 1813, of unknown origin, perhaps a figurative extension of earlier jib (v.) "shift a sail or boom" (see jib). OED, however, suggests a phonetic variant of chime, as if meaning "to chime in with, to be in harmony."
convenience: early 15c., "agreement," from L. convenientia "meeting together, agreement, harmony," from convenire (see convene). Meaning "suitable, adapted to existing conditions" is from c.1600; that of "personally not difficult" is from 1703.
wavelength: 1850, "distance between peaks of a wave," from wave (n.) + length. Originally of spectra; radio sense is attested by 1925. Fig. sense of "mental harmony" is recorded from 1927, on analogy of radio waves.
Boxer Rebellion: 1900, a name based on mistranslation of Chinese xenophobic society I-He-T'uan, "Righteous Harmony Band," rendered by British as I-He-Ch'uan "Righteous Uniting Fists," and so associated with the pugilistic boxer.
Hobson-Jobson: 1634, British soldiers' mangled Anglicization of the Ar. cry they heard at Muharram processions in India, Ya Hasan! Ya Husayn! ("O Hassan! O Husain!"), mourning two grandsons of the Prophet who died fighting for the faith. This led to the linguists' law of Hobson-Jobson, describing the effort to bring a new and strange word into harmony with the language.
correspondence: early 15c., "harmony, agreement," from M.L. correspondentia, from correspondentem, prp. of correspondere "correspond," from com- "together" + respondere "to answer" (see respond). Sense of "communication by letters" is first attested 1640s.
absurdity: 1520s, from M.Fr. absurdité, from L. absurditatem (nom. absurditas) "dissonance, incongruity," from absurdus "out of tune, senseless," from ab- intens. prefix + surdus "dull, deaf, mute" (see susurration). The main modern sense (also present in L.) is a fig. one, "out of harmony with reason or propriety."
correspond: 1520s, "to be in agreement, to be in harmony with," from M.L. correspondere, from cor- (see com-) "together, with each other" + respondere "to answer" (see respond). Originally in M.L. of two things in mutual action, but by later M.L. it could be used of one thing only. In English, sense of "to be similar" (to) is from 1640s; that of "to hold communication with" is from c.1600; specifically "to communicate by means of letters" from 1640s (in mid-18c. it also could mean "have sex").
consonance: 1580s, from Fr. consonance (14c.), from L. consonantia "harmony, agreement," from consonare "to sound together" (see consonant). Used earlier in a fig. sense of "agreement among persons" (c.1430).
congruence: c.1430, from L. congruentia "argument, harmony, congruity," from congruent-, prp. stem of congruere (see congruent). Related: Congruency (1494).
concent: 1580s, from L. concentus "a singing together, harmony," from concinere "to sing or sound together," from con- "with, together" + canere "to sing" (see chant). Often misspelled consent or confused with that word.
anachronism: 1640s, "an error in computing time or finding dates," from L. anachronismus, from Gk. anachronismos, from anachronizein "refer to wrong time," from ana- "against" + khronos "time." Meaning "something out of harmony with the present" first recorded 1816. Related: Anachronistic (1775).
harmonic: 1530s (implied in harmonical), from L. harmonicus, from Gk. harmonikos "harmonic, musical," from harmonia (see harmony). First record of verb harmonize is from late 15c.
barber: early 14c., from Anglo-Fr. barbour (attested as a surname from 1221), from O.Fr. barbeor, barbieor (Mod.Fr. barbier, which has a more restricted sense than the English word), from V.L. *barbatorem, from L. barba "beard." Originally also regular practitioners of surgery and dentistry, they were restricted to haircutting and dentistry under Henry VIII. Barber-shop is from 1570s; in reference to close harmony male vocal quartets, it is attested from 1910.
balance: late 13c., "apparatus for weighing," from O.Fr. balance (12c.) "balance, scales for weighing," also in the figurative sense; from M.L. bilancia, from L.L. bilanx (acc. bilancem), from L. (libra) bilanx "(scale) having two pans," possibly from L. bis "twice" + lanx "dish, plate, scale of a balance." The accounting sense is from 1580s; the meaning "general harmony between parts" is from 1732; sense of "physical equipoise" is from 1660s. The verb is attested from 1570s. Balance of power in the geopolitical sense is from 1701; balanced meal, diet, etc. is from 1908.
concert (n.): 1665, from Fr., from It. concerto "concert, harmony," from concertare "bring into agreement," in L. "to contend, contest," from com- "with" + certare "to contend, strive," freq. of certus, var. pp. of cernere "separate, decide" (see crisis). Before the word entered Eng., meaning shifted from "to strive against" to "to strive alongside." But Klein considers this too much of a stretch and suggests L. concentare "to sing together" (from con- + cantare "to sing") as the source of the It. word. Sense of "public musical performance" is 1689. Concerto was borrowed 1730 directly from It. as a musical term.