sordo

Forms

sordo (feminine sorda, masculine plural sordi, feminine plural sorde)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin surdus (“deaf; muffled, indistinct”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin word is found throughout antiquity, from Plautus on, and has descendants in every Romance language: French sourd, Occitan sort, Spanish sordo, Portuguese surdo, Sardinian surdu, Romansh suord and Romanian surd.^[5][3][6]

The origin of the Latin word is uncertain.^[2][7] Latin used it both of someone who cannot hear and of something that sounds dull;^[3][8] Nocentini takes the second as the older sense, as in absurdus (“out of tune, discordant”), and puts the word in the family of susurrō (“to whisper”).^[3][8] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to ring, whistle”), but de Vaan finds the meaning hard to explain from a root “to sound”.^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to the 12th–13th century.^[4] DELI's first record of the adjective is in Iacopone da Todi, before 1306;^[2][7] Iacopone's muto, sordo deventato (“become dumb and deaf”) is quoted by GDLI beside a sord e muto of Ugo di Perso.^[2][7] Dante's Convivio (1304–1308) has the noun, a deaf person.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Before 1321 Dante used the adjective for someone who does not listen, and in the Paradiso for matter that is “deaf”, slow to answer the artist's intention.^[2][10] Before 1449 Giusto de' Conti used it for something hidden and silent, the sense of rancore sordo; in 1550 Cosimo Bartoli used it of a room with little resonance.^[2] Phonetics took it up for voiceless consonants, in Ascoli's lectures of 1870.^[2]

In music sordo was used from 1635 of a muted sound, and German borrowed it in this sense in 1802.^[11] Sordomuto (sordomutto before 1562) is probably modelled on French sourd-muet (1564).^[2]

Timeline

• 1304–1308 – Dante uses sordo as a noun, a deaf person.^[2]
• Before 1306 – Iacopone da Todi uses the adjective “deaf”.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it of someone who does not listen.^[2]
• Before 1449 – Giusto de' Conti uses it for something hidden.^[2]
• 1550 – Cosimo Bartoli uses it of a room with poor resonance.^[2]
• Before 1562 – sordomutto “deaf-mute” appears in Pietro Fortini.^[2]
• 1635 – the musical sense of a muted sound is recorded.^[11]
• 1870 – Ascoli uses it for a voiceless consonant.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. deaf: having lost all or part of one's hearing: sordo dall'orecchio destro.^[4][10][12]
2. (figurative) Deaf to advice, appeals or needs; indifferent, unmoved: sordo alle suppliche.^[4][10][13]
3. Of a sound or voice, muffled, dull, low: un tonfo sordo.^[4][10][12]
4. Of a room or hall, lacking resonance.^[4][10][13]
5. (figurative) Hidden but deep and persistent, as resentment or a struggle; of pain, dull and constant.^[4][10][13]
6. (phonetics) voiceless: articulated without vibration of the vocal cords, as /p/, /t/ and /f/.^[4][12][13]

Noun

1. A deaf person.^[13][14][1]

Word family

• sordità
• sordastro
• sordina
• sordino
• sordomuto
• sordomutismo
• sordone
• assordare
• assordante
• assordire
• sordamente
• insordire

Related words

• assurdo
• sussurro
• Latin surdus

Usage notes

Fare il sordo is to pretend not to hear;^[13][15] parlare ai sordi is to speak in vain; the proverb non c'è peggior sordo di chi non vuol sentire says that no one is deafer than one who will not hear.^[13][15] An obsolete sordo “dirty, impure” is a shortened form of sordido.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b 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 Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
13. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
15. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 19, 486