susurro

Forms

susurrō (present infinitive susurrāre, perfect active susurrāvī, supine susurrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin susurrus (“whisper”) + -ō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes susurrus as an onomatopoeic formation, whose reduplication, hissing ⟨s⟩ and ⟨rr⟩ imitate whispering and rustling, though it may have been formed on Proto-Indo-European *suer- (“to resound”).^[3] Wiktionary likewise calls it a reduplicated imitative extension of *swer- (“to buzz, hum”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Terence on.^[3] In the Andria a character says iam susurrārī audiō, “I already hear it whispered”, that a girl is an Athenian citizen.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to speak in a low voice, to whisper, especially of rumours and insinuations.^[2] Virgil uses it of humming bees,^[2][4] and the Culex of murmuring water and rustling wind.^[2][4] Ovid uses it of whispering with a nurse and of rumour.^[4] From Martial on it was also transitive, to whisper or hum something: Martial has a man who hums Egyptian and Gaditanian songs.^[4][5] Lewis and Short note that it is poetic and post-classical in prose.^[4]

It remained in Ecclesiastical Latin for whispering, murmuring and humming.^[6]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses the impersonal passive of a rumour.^[4][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of bees.^[2][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of whispering and of rumour.^[4][7]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it transitively of humming songs.^[4][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of rumour and of whispering things.^[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To speak in a low voice, whisper, mutter; especially of spreading rumours.^[2][4]
2. (of bees, wind or water) To hum, buzz, murmur, rustle.^[2][4]
3. (transitive) To whisper or hum (something).^[4][5]

Word family

• consusurrō
• īnsusurrō
• susurrāmen
• susurrātiō
• susurrātor

Related words

• susurrus

Usage notes

A separate noun susurrō, -ōnis “whisperer, talebearer” is Late and Ecclesiastical: it appears in Jerome, Augustine, Sidonius and the Vulgate,^[4][5] with a variant susurriō in the Vulgate.^[5] Medieval writers used it for a slanderer.^[8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press