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

Noun

susurrus (plural susurruses)

(literary) A whispering or rustling sound; a murmur.
- 1847, Thomas De Quincey, "Notes on Walter Savage Landor", in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine
  pelted with buckets of water by firemen, and, finally, currycombed and rubbed down by two grooms, keeping a sharp susurrus
- 1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, OCLC 12526426, (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
Latin: susurrus m
Spanish: susurro (es) m

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) IPA^(key): /suˈsur.rus/, [s̠ʊˈs̠ʊrːʊs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /suˈsur.rus/, [suˈs̬urːus]

Noun

susurrus m (genitive susurrī); second declension

whisper
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
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