Etymologically
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sottotitolo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 07:33. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /sot.toˈti.to.lo/[1]

Forms

sottotitolo m (plural sottotitoli)[1]

Etymology

It is from Italian sotto- + titolo (“title”).[2][3][4][5][1] DELI takes it as modelled on English subtitle, used of books from 1825 and of films from 1909.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word to 1878, in a text of Arcangelo Ghisleri in Napoleone Colajanni's Democrazia e socialismo; in a passage GDLI quotes, Ghisleri asks for headings for the parts of a long work to replace the continua (“to be continued”) notes; there the word means the title of a section of a text.[3][7] DELI's first record is from 1912, in an article by E. Perego, Titoli e sottotitoli, in a film magazine.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the late 19th and early 20th century the word was used of books and newspapers: a secondary title that explains or extends the main one, and the title of a subdivision of a text;[7][3] Pascoli wrote of a long poem with a title and several sottotitoli in the text.[7][3] With the cinema it came to mean the captions shown on the screen, which in silent films carried the dialogue.[6][8] Today it is mostly used in the plural for the translation of the dialogue printed at the bottom of the picture in films and television programmes shown in the original language, and for captions for the deaf.[3][4][8] The verb sottotitolare and the noun sottotitolazione followed.[1]

Timeline

  • 1825 – English subtitle is used of books.[6]
  • 1878 – Arcangelo Ghisleri uses sottotitolo.[3][9]
  • 1909 – English subtitle is used of films.[6]
  • 1912 – Titoli e sottotitoli appears in a film magazine.[6][4][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. subtitle: a secondary title that explains or extends the main title of a book or a newspaper article.[3][4][8][1]
  2. (printing, journalism) A short heading in smaller type set within the text of an article; the title of a subdivision of a text.[3][4][10]
  3. (cinema, television, usually plural) Captions shown at the bottom of the screen, translating the dialogue or making it readable for the deaf: Preferisco vedere i film in lingua originale con i sottotitoli.[3][4][8][1]

Word family

  • sottotitolare
  • sottotitolazione
  • titolo

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  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
  8. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  9. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  10. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana