superbia

See also: supèrbia

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin superbia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /suˈpɛr.bja/
• Rhymes: -ɛrbja
• Hyphenation: su‧pèr‧bia

Noun

superbia f (plural superbie)

1. pride, haughtiness, pomposity
   • c. 1500, Leonardo da Vinci, “Allegorie ed emblemi”, in G. Fumagalli, editor, Leonardo Prosatore, scelta di scritti Vinciani, Milan: Albrighi, published 1915, →OCLC, page 307:

     Il falcone, per la sua alterigia e superbia, vole signioreggiare e sopraffare tutti li altri uccelli che son di rapina, e sen desidera essere solo; e spesse volte s’è veduto il falcone assaltare l’aquila, regina delli uccelli.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• superbo

 

Latin

Etymology

From superbus (“haughty, proud”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /suˈper.bi.a/, [s̠ʊˈpɛrbiä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /suˈper.bi.a/, [suˈpɛrbiä]

Noun

superbia f (genitive superbiae); first declension

1. pride, haughtiness, arrogance, snobbishness, insolence, lawlessness, wantonness

   Synonyms: spīritus, arrogantia

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.529:

     “Nōn ea vīs animō nec tanta superbia victīs.”

     “[We do] not [have] this violence in mind, nor [is] such arrogance even [appropriate] for the defeated.”
     (Ilioneus assures Queen Dido that the Trojans have not come to raid Carthage.)

2. conceit, vanity
3. rudeness, discourtesy

Usage notes

While superbia generally refers to pride in a negative sense, it can also mean it in the good sense.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	superbia	superbiae
genitive	superbiae	superbiārum
dative	superbiae	superbiīs
accusative	superbiam	superbiās
ablative	superbiā	superbiīs
vocative	superbia	superbiae

Related terms

• superbē
• superbiō
• superbiter
• superbus

Descendants

• French: superbe
• Italian: superbia
• Portuguese: soberba
• Spanish: soberbia

References

• “superbia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “superbia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• superbia in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• superbia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to be puffed up with pride: insolentia, superbia inflatum esse
    

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin superbia.

Noun

superbia f (plural superbias)

1. (obsolete) haughtiness, arrogance

Related terms

• soberbia

 

Further reading

• “superbia”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10