sibilus

An onomatopoeic formation, with similar words in various branches of Indo-European.^[1] Gamkrelidze and Ivanov derive the word from Proto-Indo-European *sweysd- (“to hiss”); if so, then related to Welsh chwythu (“to play instrument, blow”), Old Irish setim (“to blow”), Polish gwizdać (“to whistle”), Old Church Slavonic свистати (svistati, “to whistle”), Russian свисте́ть (svistétʹ, “to whistle”), Sanskrit क्ष्वेडति (kṣveḍati, “to whisper, hum, buzz”), Hindi सीटी (sīṭī, “to whistle”), Proto-Germanic *sweglō (“flute”) and Proto-Germanic *sweglōną (“to play flute”) (compare Old High German swegala (“flute”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌻𐍉𐌽 (swiglōn, “to play flute”)).^[2]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsiː.bi.lus/, [ˈs̠iːbɪɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.bi.lus/, [ˈsiːbilus]

sībilus m (genitive sībilī); second declension

1. a hissing, whistling
2. a contemptuous hissing

Second-declension noun.

• sībilō

• “sibilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sibilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sibilus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.