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

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

Noun

susurrus (plural susurruses)

1. (literary) A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of De Quincey to this entry?)

   The soft susurrus and sighs of the branches. — Longfellow.

   • 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, rahina, rapina (fi), havina
• French: susurrement (fr) m
• German: Säuseln n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: susurrus m
• Spanish: susurro (es) m

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Latin

Etymology

Reduplication of imitative 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.

Case	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
• 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.