1881, from American Spanish (California) tuna, from Spanish atun, from Arabic tun, borrowed, probably in Spain, from Latin thunnus "tunny" (see tunny).
Entries linking to tuna
tunny n.
large sea-fish of the mackerel order, 1520s, probably from French thon (14c.), from Old Provençal ton and directly from Latin thunnus "a tuna, tunny," from Greek thynnos "a tuna, tunny," possibly with a literal sense of "darter," from thynein "dart along."
In ancient Greece, the food-fish par excellence, with its own vocabulary of culinary and market terms for the cuts and preparations of it.