sotto

Etymology

By ellipsis from sotto voce.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsəʊtəʊ/, /ˈsɒtəʊ/, [ˈsotːo]

Adverb

sotto (not comparable)

1. (music, informal) = sotto voce
   • 1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 104:

     Jimi’s guitar plays flat against the major chord, giving a strange, almost discordant effect. Mitch on drums is behind the bass sotto.

   • 2006 October 2nd, Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory, “Pilot”, screenplay (revised first draft), act one, scene A (page 27):

     Wolowitz:   Énchanté, mademoiselle. Howard Wolowitz, Cal Tech department of applied physics. You may be familiar with some of my work – – it’s currently toodling around the surface of Mars.
     Penny:   Hi. Penny.
     Wolowitz:   You smell wonderful. What is that scent you’re wearing?
     Penny:   It’s called b.o.
     Wolowitz:   Ah. Hence the shower, of course. Leonard, where have you been hiding this one? She’s charming.
     Sheldon:   (SOTTO, TO LEONARD)   Oh, he’s good.

Adjective

sotto (not comparable)

1. (music, informal) = sotto voce
   • 1978–81, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: The Life of Jimi Hendrix (1983), page 237:

     Playing against the effect, Wood plays single sotto lines with a variation on the key that sustains a minor mode against the finely tuned feedback effects stroked in pinks against the upper canvas.

   • 2008, David Henderson, ‛Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky: Jimi Hendrix, Voodoo Child, page 192:

     The twelve string rings out but Jimi’s voice is sotto, intimate.

Anagrams

• Totos, ottos, toots

Etymology

From Latin subtus, which is derived from Latin sub.^[1] Cognate to French sous.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -otto

Preposition

sotto

1. under, beneath, underneath
2. below, south of

Adverb

sotto

1. down
2. underneath
3. below

Noun

sotto (invariable)

1. bottom

Derived terms

References

Anagrams

• tosto, tostò

Romanization

sotto

1. Rōmaji transcription of そっと

Alternative forms

• (De'kwana): ssoto
• (historical spelling): so'to, So'to

Noun

sotto

1. true person, human, where only speakers of Maquiritari are considered “truly” human
2. twenty

References

• Ed. Key, Mary Ritchie and Comrie, Bernard. The Intercontinental Dictionary Series, Carib (De'kwana).
• de Civrieux, Marc. Watunna.
• Cáceres, Natalia. Grammaire Fonctionelle-Typologique du Ye'kwana.

Etymology

From Latin subtus, from Latin sub. Cognate to Italian sotto and French sous.

Preposition

sotto

1. below