Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • 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.
  • verb to provide surtitles for a performance.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun translation of the words of a foreign opera (or choral work) projected on a screen above the stage

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French sur ("over, above"), from Latin super, + title, from Latin titulum.

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Examples

  • Knowing the play beforehand was an advantage watching Thiyam's version in the Eisenhower where it played Friday and Saturday, for while the actors howled at one another in Manipuri, the English translations on the surtitle screens were few and far between.

    'Maximum India' features a bold take on Ibsen, reading of Indian short stories 2011

  • I didn't have a problem with the religious platitudes (embarrasing to me, but that's just me) projected up onto the surtitle screen for all to see; the sometimes erratic nature of the dialogue (some characters' replies seemed to bear little or no relation to what was previously directed at them)....what really bothered me were the references to Italy and India.

    Heliane: the reckoning Jessica 2007

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