susurro Latin · revision 36668

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=la susurrus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [sʊˈsʊr.roː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [suˈs̬ur.ro]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''susurrō''' (present infinitive susurrāre, perfect active susurrāvī, supine susurrātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|susurrus|-ō|t1=whisper]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan takes [[m|la|susurrus]] as an onomatopoeic formation, whose reduplication, hissing ⟨s⟩ and ⟨rr⟩ imitate whispering and rustling, though it may have been formed on [[ine-pro|*suer-|t=to resound]].^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary likewise calls it a reduplicated imitative extension of [[m|ine-pro|*swer-|t=to buzz, hum]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Terence on.^(de Vaan 2008) In the ''Andria'' a character says ''iam susurrārī audiō'', “I already hear it whispered”, that a girl is an Athenian citizen.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant to speak in a low voice, to whisper, especially of rumours and insinuations.^(OLD 2012) Virgil uses it of humming bees,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and the ''Culex'' of murmuring water and rustling wind.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid uses it of whispering with a nurse and of rumour.^(Lewis & Short 1879) From Martial on it was also transitive, to whisper or hum something: Martial has a man who hums Egyptian and Gaditanian songs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Lewis and Short note that it is poetic and post-classical in prose.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ It remained in Ecclesiastical Latin for whispering, murmuring and humming.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses the impersonal passive of a rumour.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of bees.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of whispering and of rumour.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it transitively of humming songs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of rumour and of whispering things.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To speak in a low voice, [[m|en|whisper]], [[m|en|mutter]]; especially of spreading rumours.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(of bees, wind or water)'' To [[m|en|hum]], [[m|en|buzz]], [[m|en|murmur]], rustle.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To whisper or hum (something).^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==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,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) with a variant ''susurriō'' in the Vulgate.^(Georges 1913) Medieval writers used it for a slanderer.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}