resonate v.

mid-15c., resonaunce, in acoustics, "prolongation or repetition of sound by reflection, reverberation;" from Old French resonance (15c.) and directly from Latin resonantia "an echo," from resonare "to sound again, sound back" (see resound). Earlier in same sense was resonation (early 15c.). From 1660s as "act of resonating."  

1869, instrument or chamber formed to respond to a single tone, agent noun in Latin form from resonate (v.). By 1897 in the general sense of "object which resonates." A resonator guitar (by 1943; the thing itself developed from 1920s) produces sound by means of spun metal cones (resonators).