Commentary Inf XVI 1-3

The opening allusion to the noise of falling water is repeated, once the encounter with the three Florentines is complete, at vv. 92-93. Dante's choice of rhyme words is arresting. The resounding onomatopoeia of rimbombo, a word that here has its only appearance in Dante's writings, has struck many a reader who has spent time at the foot of a waterfall, is nearly matched by that of rombo, the sound that issues from a bee-hive. That these two words are in the first tercet may reflect the fact that Dante could not think of a third rhyme of similar sonority, thus clearing the way for this opening effect. The only other words (none used as rhymes) ending in -ombo in the poem are piombo (four times) and colombo (once).