sotterrare

Forms

sotterrare (first-person singular present sottèrro, first-person singular past historic sotterrài, past participle sotterràto, auxiliary avére)^[1] Old forms include Old Italian soterare, Old Italian socterrare and Old Italian sotterare.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Italian sotterra + -are, from the adverb meaning “underground”.^[3][4][5][6] The adverb is formed from Italian so- + terra.^[3] Wiktionary allows also a Vulgar Latin *subterrāre, from Latin sub- (“under”) and terra (“earth”).^[1] Körting listed such a verb as the source of the Italian word and of Spanish soterrar and Portuguese soterrar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in the Storie de Troia e de Roma, of the 13th century, with the sense “to bury”.^[3] Before 1303 Onesto da Bologna used it for “to kill”, and the plain sense “to put under the ground” is recorded in the Italian Palladio, before 1340.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

Writers from the 14th century on used the verb for hiding things in the ground: Antonio Pucci tells how a people burned their records e fecion sotterrar la lor campana (“and had their bell buried”), and Leonardo wrote that elephants bury their tusks when they fall out in old age.^[2] In Manzoni's drafts of I promessi sposi Perpetua takes Don Abbondio's savings: Vo a sotterrarli nell'orto, appiè del fico (“I'll go and bury them in the garden, at the foot of the fig tree”).^[2] The participle sotterrato is in Dante, and morto e sotterrato “long dead” is also used of ideas that are out of date.^[3][9]

Among the derivatives, DEI dates sotterramento to the 15th century and DELI to Florio in 1611.^[8][3] Sotterratorio “burial place” is in Firenzuola, and sotterratore in Daniello Bartoli.^[8] Jocular senses grew in modern Italian: to outlive others, to put a quarrel behind one, and to celebrate the end of Carnival.^[5][10][9]

Timeline

• 13th century – The Storie de Troia e de Roma use the verb for “to bury”.^[3]
• Before 1303 – Onesto da Bologna uses it for “to kill”.^[3]
• 1304–1308 – Dante uses the participle sotterrato.^[3]
• Before 1340 – The Italian Palladio uses it for “to put under the ground”.^[3][8]
• 15th century – Sotterramento is recorded.^[8]
• 16th century – Firenzuola uses sotterratorio for a burial place.^[8]
• 17th century – Daniello Bartoli uses sotterratore.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put under the ground, especially to hide something: Il pirata sotterrò il bottino vicino al faro.^[5][11][10]
2. (transitive) To bury a dead person or animal; to inter.^[5][6][12]
3. (figurative, jocular) To outlive others: Il vecchio Gino è più sano di tutti noi: li sotterra uno dopo l'altro.^[5][11][6]
4. (figurative) To stop talking about something, to put it behind one: sotterrare l'ascia di guerra (to bury the hatchet).^[5][11][6]
5. (dated) Sotterrare il carnevale: to celebrate the last day of Carnival.^[10][12][11]
6. (pronominal, figurative) To hide oneself, especially for shame: Volevo sotterrarmi per l'imbarazzo.^[13][11]

Word family

• dissotterrare
• sotterramento
• sotterratore
• sotterratorio
• sotterratura

Related words

• sotterra
• sottoterra
• terra
• seppellire

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
4. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ a b c d e f g Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3565
9. ^ a b Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
10. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli