suonare Italian · revision 38086

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1219|origins=ine-pro *swenh₂-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /swoˈna.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''suonare''' (first-person singular present suòno, first-person singular past historic suonài, past participle suonàto, auxiliary avére or èssere)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|sonō|t=to sound, resound; to cry, sing]], a verb formed from [[m|la|sonus|t=sound]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary) The diphthong ⟨uo⟩ of the stressed forms (“suòno” “I play”) has spread to the unstressed ones, so that “suonavo” and “suonerò” are now commoner than “sonavo” and “sonerò”, and “sonare” is old or regional.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ The Latin verb lives on throughout Romance: [[fr|sonner]], [[oc|sonar]], [[ca|sonar]], [[es|sonar]], [[pt|soar]], [[sc|sonare]], [[ro|suna]] and Vegliote [[m|dlm|sonuar]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) Some dialects shifted the meaning: Old Milanese “sonar” meant “to seem”, Logudorese “to resemble”, and in Valais and Vaud the verb came to mean “to smell”.^(REW 1935)

+

+ [[m|la|sonō|alt=Sonō]] goes back to Proto-Italic [[m|itc-pro|*swonaō]], an iterative of [[ine-pro|*swenh₂-|t=to sound, resound]];^(Wiktionary) Latin also had an archaic [[m|la|sonō|alt=sonere]] of the third conjugation, in Ennius and Accius.^(Wiktionary) The same root is in [[sa|स्वनति|tr=svanati|t=to sound]] and [[cu|звьнѣти|tr=zvĭněti|t=to resound]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini and GRADIT date the verb to 1219;^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) DIFIT puts its musical sense, making an instrument produce sounds, in the first half of the 13th century, after DELI.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the verb is used of horns, bells and instruments, as in Dante's “Io senti' sonare un alto corno” (I heard a high horn sound) and Boccaccio's ''campanello''.^(GDLI|19, 399) Bells gave many fixed phrases: ''suonare a morto'' (to toll for the dead), ''a martello'' or ''a stormo'' (to ring the alarm), ''a distesa'' (in full peal).^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003) Dante also used it for what words mean, ''ben puoi sapere omai che 'l suo dir suona'' (you may well know now what his words mean), a sense now literary.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The modern dictionaries add familiar senses: “to beat up” (''suonarle a qualcuno'', to give someone a thrashing) and “to swindle”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010) The family includes ''sonata'', from the 15th century, which became the name of a musical form.^(Nocentini 2010) French recorded Italian ''suonare'' as a musical term in 1703 and German in 1901.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1219 – First record.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * First half of the 13th century – Musical sense, playing an instrument.^(DIFIT)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''sonare'' of a horn, and in the sense “to mean”.^(GDLI|19, 399)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ * 14th century – ''Suonatore'', a player.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 15th century – ''Sonata''.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1703 – French records the Italian term.^(DIFIT)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(transitive)'' To [[m|en|play]] a musical instrument, ''(absolute)'' to play music, as a performer: ''Mia sorella suona il violoncello in un'orchestra.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To perform a piece or the music of a composer: ''Stasera il quartetto suona Haydn.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To ring or sound a device: the doorbell, the horn, the bells, ''(absolute)'' to honk: ''Non suonare, ci sono i bambini che dormono.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To announce or signal by a sound; of a clock, to [[m|en|strike]] the hour: ''Il campanile ha suonato le sette.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' Of an instrument, a bell, an alarm or a telephone, to ring, give out a sound: ''Il telefono suonava da cinque minuti.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(intransitive, copulative)'' To sound, seem: ''La sua scusa suona falsa.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' To beat someone up; to [[m|en|swindle]]: ''suonarle a qualcuno'', to give someone a beating.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Wikizionario)

+ # ''(literary)'' To mean, signify.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[suonata]]

+ * [[sonata]]

+ * [[suonatore]]

+ * [[suoneria]]

+ * [[suonabile]]

+ * [[risuonare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[suono]]

+ * [[la|sonō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The auxiliary is ''avere'' when the subject plays or rings something, and ''avere'' or ''essere'' when a bell, clock or signal sounds by itself (''sono suonate le otto'').^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary) ''Suonato'', the past participle, is also a colloquial adjective for someone “punch-drunk, a bit crazy”.^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}