sobillare

Forms

sobillare (first-person singular present sobìllo, first-person singular past historic sobillài, past participle sobillàto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Older and popular forms are subillare, subbillare and sobbillare.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

The usual explanation is that it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *subilāre, a Vulgar Latin variant of classical Latin sībilō (“to hiss, to whistle”).^{[4][5][6][7][1]} DELI gives this origin as likely only and points to a different proposal by Alessio.^[4] The sense would have passed from “to whistle into someone's ears” to “to egg someone on by whispering”.^[5][8][3][2] Treccani and the GDLI add that the verb was drawn towards the Italian verbs ending in -illare.^[2][9]

The same Vulgar Latin form is continued by Dalmatian sublar and Sardinian sulare, while standard Italian has the learned sibilare and zufolare, which comes from a further variant.^[10][1] Wiktionary suggests that the prefix so- (from sub-) helped keep the /b/ from turning into a fricative.^[1] That verb is from Latin sībilus (“a hiss”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is Marchionne's Florentine chronicle (1378–1385), where groups of discontented families sobillavano, e male diceano degli uni e degli altri (“stirred people up, and spoke ill of one side and the other”).^[11] The sense there is to urge someone, usually with specious arguments, to do something against morality, their own interest or good sense.^[11]

Semantic evolution

DELI, which did not yet have the medieval record, dates the word from the 16th century: subillare in Benedetto Varchi (before 1565), sobbillare in Benvenuto Cellini (before 1571) and sobillare in the first Crusca dictionary of 1612.^[4] Varchi explains that to subbillare someone is to beg him in every way until he promises, almost against his will, to do what is asked.^[9]

The modern verb means to stir someone up covertly against others, and especially to incite to revolt.^[5][6][2] The agent noun sobillatore is recorded from 1891 and appears in 1894 in the title of an article by Filippo Turati, I sobillatori.^[5][4] Sobillazione followed in 1960.^[5]

Timeline

• 1378–1385 – Marchionne's Florentine chronicle has sobillavano.^[11]
• Before 1565 – Benedetto Varchi writes subillare.^[4]
• Before 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini writes sobbillare.^[4]
• 1612 – The form sobillare is recorded in the first Crusca dictionary.^[4]
• 1891 – Sobillatore “agitator” is first recorded.^[5]
• 1894 – Filippo Turati publishes I sobillatori in Critica sociale.^[4]
• 1960 – Sobillazione is first recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To incite someone covertly to hostility, to set them against others: sobillava i colleghi contro il capo.^{[6][7][8][12]}
2. To instigate to rebellion or violent action: sobillare i soldati alla rivolta.^[7][2][1]

Word family

• sobillatore
• sobillazione

Related words

• sibilare
• zufolare
• Latin sibilo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
3. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
9. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 218
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli