susurrus

English

WOTD – 17 July 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin susurrus (“a humming, whispering”); reduplication of imitative Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsuː.sə.ɹəs/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsu.sə.ɹəs/, /səˈsəɹ.əs/

Noun

susurrus (plural susurruses)

1. (literary) A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
   • 1847 February, Thomas De Quincey, “Notes on Walter Savage Landor”, in Leaders in Literature with a Notice of Traditional Errors Affecting Them (De Quincey’s Works; IX), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, pages 312–313:

     [Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi was] pelted with buckets of water by firemen, and, finally, currycombed and rubbed down by two grooms, keeping a sharp susurrus between them, so as to soothe his wounded feelings; […]

   • 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):

     The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches.

   • 2000, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, →ISBN, page 555:

     They heard the Green Fork before they saw it, an endless susurrus, like the growl of some great beast.

   • 2004, Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram: A Novel, →ISBN, page 613:

     I sipped at a drink and smoked cigarettes in a silence so profound that I could hear the susurrus of the blindfold's soft fabric rustle and slip between my fingers.

   • 2007, Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind, →ISBN, page 301:

     I walked steadily toward the pennant pole amid a sea of susurrus murmurings.

   • 2008, Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book, →ISBN, page 262:

     Bod could feel the Sleer listening to Jack's words, could feel a low susurrus of excitement building in the chamber.

Related terms

• insusurration
• susurrant, susurrous
• susurrate
• susurration

Translations

whispering or rustling sound

• Finnish: kahina (fi), rahina, rapina (fi), havina
• French: susurrement (fr) m
• German: Säuseln n
• Hebrew: רשרוש m (rishrúsh), המהום m (himhúm)
• Latin: susurrus m
• Spanish: susurro (es) m
• Tibetan: འུར་རུ་རུ ('ur ru ru), དི་རི་རི (di ri ri)

Latin

Etymology

A reduplicative onomatopoeic extension of Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“to buzz, hum”). See also Latin surdus, Lithuanian surma (“a pipe”), Russian свире́ль (svirélʹ, “a pipe, reed”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /suˈsur.rus/, [s̠ʊˈs̠ʊrːʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /suˈsur.rus/, [suˈs̬urːus]

Noun

susurrus m (genitive susurrī); second declension

1. whisper
2. murmur

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	susurrus	susurrī
genitive	susurrī	susurrōrum
dative	susurrō	susurrīs
accusative	susurrum	susurrōs
ablative	susurrō	susurrīs
vocative	susurre	susurrī

Descendants

• Italian: sussurro
• Spanish: susurro
• Portuguese: sussurro
• Romanian: susur

References

• “susurrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “susurrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• susurrus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.