Etymologically
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sopra

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin suprā (“above, over”).[2][3][4][1] The Latin word, older suprād, was the ablative feminine of superus (“upper”) with the inner vowel lost, and that adjective was formed from super (“over, above”).[3][4][5] In the Romance languages the adverb merged with the preposition: the same word is French sur, Occitan sobre, Spanish sobre, Portuguese sobre, Sardinian subra and Romanian spre (“towards”).[3][6] Devoto compared forms without the initial ⟨s-⟩ elsewhere in Indo-European, such as German über and Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér).[5]

The literary sovra, with /pr/ softened to /vr/, spread from the northern dialects, according to Sabatini–Coletti.[7] The old forms Old Italian sopre (Jacopone) and the proclitic sor continue the preposition.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first records are of the adverb: “previously, above” in a Florentine account book of 1211, and “in a higher place” in a record of 1228.[2][4] The preposition is first found in the 13th-century poet Garzo: Gaude di villa / chi sta sopr'ella “who lives above the town enjoys it”.[2][9]

Semantic evolution

From the sense “on, above”, Old Italian developed “about, concerning” (supra in 1219, sopra in Brunetto Latini before 1294), “beyond, more than” (the Novellino, late 13th century) and “after” (the Italian Marco Polo, early 14th century).[2] Boccaccio has Postagli la mano sopra il petto “having laid his hand on his chest”.[10][9] It forms many compounds, such as soprannome “nickname” (Dante) and soprabito “overcoat” (1841), and makes the following consonant double (sopraccapo).[8]

As a musical direction, sopra “at a higher pitch” is recorded before 1494, and it passed into French in 1703 and German in 1732, where it also tells a pianist which hand crosses over the other.[11] Common modern phrases include al di sopra di ogni sospetto “above suspicion”, mettere una pietra sopra “to let bygones be bygones”, dormirci sopra “to sleep on it” and averne fin sopra i capelli “to be fed up”.[4][12][13]

Timeline

  • 1211 – A Florentine account book uses the adverb for “above, previously”.[2]
  • 1219 – The Breve di Montieri has supra “concerning”.[2]
  • 13th century – Garzo uses the preposition.[2]
  • before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses sopra “about, concerning”.[2]
  • 1353 – Boccaccio uses it for “on, upon (someone)”.[2]
  • before 1494 – Sopra is used as a musical direction.[11]
  • 1703 – The musical term is recorded in French.[11]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. on, upon, on top of, in contact with: Ho lasciato le chiavi sopra il frigorifero.[4][12][7]
  2. above, over, higher than, without contact: Gli elicotteri volavano sopra la città.[4][12][13]
  3. Over, covering: Mettiti un maglione sopra la camicia.[4][14]
  4. More than, beyond: bambini sopra i sei anni.[13][12]
  5. About, on (a subject): un saggio sopra Leopardi.[2][7]
  6. Over, indicating power or superiority.[4][7]
  7. Upon, one after another: un guaio sopra l'altro.[4][15]

Adverb

  1. On top, above: Il sugo va sotto, il formaggio sopra.[4][7]
  2. upstairs, on a higher floor: I vicini di sopra fanno un gran rumore.[7][12]
  3. Earlier in a text: come detto sopra.[4][2] Come sopra means “as above, ditto”.[4][2]

Noun

  1. (invariable) The top, upper part: il sopra del mobile.[1][4]

Word family

  • disopra
  • sossopra
  • soprannome
  • soprabito

Usage notes

Before a personal pronoun it takes di (sopra di lei), and in some phrases it is joined to a noun with a (sopra al letto).[12][7] The opposite is sotto.[7][14]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 415
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  8. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 929
  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, 425
  10. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  12. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  13. ^ a b c Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  15. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana