surtitle

[brbplayingchess.livejournal.com]

surtitle
noun

Pronunciation:
[sur-tahyt-l]

Definition:
A transcript or translation suspended above a live performance or placed on the top of the screen. Preferred in Opera to subtitles. See also: Supertitle.

Usage:
"Jason wasn't going to get any tonight. Thinking it would make him seem wordly and sophisticated he had planned a first date at the Italian Opera and purchased seats at the front. His date had to hold her neck nearly 90 degrees to read the surtitles and ended up missing the entire performance."

Etymology:
From the French "sur" meaning "above, over, on top" and the Latin "titulum", meaning "title."

Notes:
Jason might have still scored if he had surtitled. To Surtitle (verb) would mean to provide surtitles. But he didn't know Italian and his date didn't really want to be there anyway.

Love Tahlia, who gets unnecessarily irate at people who confuse the sub and sur prefixes.

Comments

[agent-tomato.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered what those were called!

[nerdfury.livejournal.com]

I regularly attend various operas held by the State Opera Society of South Australia, so I learned by this very example (albeit, sitting low and back, not low and front) that it was best to e in the Dress Circle to see both the stage and surtitles.