'baryton' originates from French, specifically the word 'baryton', where Greek 'barys' meant 'heavy' and Greek 'tonos' meant 'tone'.

'baryton' changed from Italian 'baritono' and French 'baryton' and eventually became the modern English word 'baryton'.

Initially, it meant 'heavy tone' (referring to a low male voice), but over time it came to denote both the baritone voice and, by extension in instrumentation, a particular 18th-century string instrument.