Arch. Forms: α. 7–8 soffita, 8 sofita; 7 soffeta, 8 sapheta. β. 7 suffito, 7–8 soffito, sofitto; 8 soffeto. γ. 8 schofeet, sopheit, suffete, 8–9 sofite, soffite. δ. 8 sofit, 8– soffit (9 soffet); 8–9 suffit. [In the α and β forms directly a. It. soffitta fem. and soffitto masc., f. sof- (L. sub) under + pa. pple. of figgere to fix. The later forms are prob. after F. soffite.] The under horizontal face of an architrave or overhanging cornice; the under surface of a lintel, vault or arch; a ceiling.
α. 1613–39. I. Jones, in Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), I. 39. The Soffita of the Corona of the Cornice.
a. 1668. Lassels, Voy. Italy (1670), II. 103. The Soffita or roof of this Church most richly guilt.
1703. [R. Neve], City & C. Purchaser, 236. Sapheta’s, the Boards over the tops of Windows, opposite to the Window-boards at the bottom.
1703. in Jrnl. Derbysh. Archæol. Soc., III. 33. For carving 16 roses in the Sofitas of the hanging square of the Capitalls.
β. 1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Archit., v. 20. Those great Roses of the Sofitto or Eves of the Corona.
1710. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., II. Sofitto, is the Italian Term in Architecture, for the Eaves of the Corona of the Capital of a Column.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 67. Five Feet from the Soffeto of the Center Arch. Ibid., 107. The Champher must run through the whole Soffeto of the Arch.
γ. 1725. W. Halfpenny, Sound Building, 13. To draw the two different Edges of a Twisted Schofeet.
1739. C. Labelye, Piers Westm. Bridge, 77. The chamfered Joints in the Suffetes of the Arches. Ibid. (1751), Westm. Br., 77. Some of their Stones both in the Fronts and their Sopheits were split.
1755. T. H. Croker, Orl. Fur., XLII. lxxvii. The lofty columns … Which the soffites with gems adorned upheld.
1823. Rutter, Fonthill, 71. The lower part or soffite of the Oriel is exquisitely finished.
1842. Gwilt, Encycl. Archit., § 2285. Backs, elbows, and sofites to windows.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit. (1879), I. 280. A rib dropping down a little from the arched soffite.
δ. 1728. Chambers, Cycl., Soffito, or Sofit, in Architecture, any Plafond or Ceiling, form’d of cross Beams, or flying Cornices.
1751. J. Stuart, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 389. The Suffit of the Architrave, and Base of the Pilasters.
1807. Hutton, Course Math. (ed. 5), II. 88. The window cills or seats, and the soffits above.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Builder, 428. The section of the soffit … is some part of a circle.
1847. Ld. Lindsay, Christian Art, I. 124. The first cupola and the suffits of the two arches intervening between it and the second.
1883. Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Rlwy., 3. In the arches the soffit is to be pointed with the best Portland cement.
attrib. 1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 755. The soffit boarding.
1851. Ruskin, Stones Ven., I. xxviii. 326. We do not look for the soffit decoration.
