susurration (n.)
"a whispering, a murmur," c. 1400, from Latin susurrationem (nominative susurratio), from past participle stem of susurrare "to hum, murmur," from susurrus "a murmur, whisper," a reduplication of the PIE imitative *swer- "to buzz, whisper" (source also of Sanskrit svarati "sounds, resounds," Greek syrinx "flute," Latin surdus "dull, mute," Old Church Slavonic svirati "to whistle," Lithuanian surma "pipe, shawm," German schwirren "to buzz," Old English swearm "a swarm").
Entries linking to susurration
"plainly illogical," 1550s, from French absurde (16c.), from Latin absurdus "out of tune, discordant;" figuratively "incongruous, foolish, silly, senseless," from ab- "off, away from," here perhaps an intensive prefix, + surdus "dull, deaf, mute," which is possibly from an imitative PIE root meaning "to buzz, whisper" (see susurration). Thus the basic sense is perhaps "out of tune," but de Vaan writes, "Since 'deaf' often has two semantic sides, viz. 'who cannot hear' and 'who is not heard,' ab-surdus can be explained as 'which is unheard of' ..." The modern English sense is the Latin figurative one, perhaps "out of harmony with reason or propriety." Related: Absurdly; absurdness.
updated on January 25, 2018
Dictionary entries near susurration
sustainability
sustainable
sustenance
sustentation
susurrant
susurration
susurrus
sutile
sutler
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suttee
