Etymograph

English

surtitle

Surtitle comes from French sur ‘over, above’, and goes back to Latin titulus ‘placard, tablet’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtitulus1as titulum‘placard, tablet’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuper1‘[of place] above’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsur1‘over, above’
  4. Englishtodaysurtitle1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English surtitle

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtitulusWiktionary, English surtitleas titulum‘placard, tablet’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsuperWiktionary, English surtitle‘[of place] above’
  3. Frenchc. 1600–presentsurWiktionary, English surtitle‘over, above’
  4. EnglishtodaysurtitleWiktionary, English surtitle

Linked words

through Latin titulus ‘placard, tablet’

tilde, tittle, titer, 3 more

through Latin super ‘[of place] above’

super, sovereign, soprano, 13 more

Today it means

noun A translation of a segment of the libretto or other text or sometimes a brief summary of the plot projected onto a screen above the stage during a performance of an opera or other similar performance sung in a foreign language; a supertitle.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “surtitle”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin titulus / surtitle

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