strophe

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ, “a turning”),^[2][3][4][5] also the source of Late Latin stropha, French strophe and Italian strofa.^[2][4] It is formed from στροφ- (stroph-), an ablaut variant of the base of στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”),^[4][2][6] which Barnhart and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *strebh- (“to turn, twist”).^[3][7] Related Greek words include στρόφος (stróphos, “twisted band, cord”), στρεβλός (streblós, “twisted”), στραβός (strabós, “squinting”), στρόβος (stróbos, “whirling”) and στρόμβος (strómbos, “top, spiral shell”).^[8][3][5] The English words antistrophe, apostrophe and catastrophe come from the same Greek verb.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A series of lines in a Greek choral ode, answered by another of the same metrical form: 1603, in P. Holland's translation of Plutarch's Moralia.^[2][3] Etymonline dates it to about 1600.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The Greek word meant a turning, and was applied to the movement of the chorus from one side of the orchestra to the other, and then to the part of the ode sung during that movement, which the antistrophe answered with a turn the other way.^{[9][3][4][10][11]} English took the word over as a term of Greek prosody,^[2][4] and widened it to any group of lines forming a section of a lyric poem;^[4][2] by 1895, Etymonline notes, it could mean no more than a stanza.^[9] Johnson (1755) defined it simply as "a stanza".^[12] The adjective strophic followed in the 19th century, also for a song whose verses are all sung to the same tune.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1603 – a section of a Greek choral ode, answered by the antistrophe.^[2][3]
• 1895 – a stanza of any poem.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. In ancient Greek drama, the movement of the chorus turning from one side of the orchestra to the other; also the part of the choral ode sung during this movement.^[13][8][4]
2. In classical verse, the first section of a Pindaric ode, whose metre is repeated in the antistrophe.^[13][2]
3. A group of lines forming a metrical unit that recurs in a poem, especially one of two units used in turn.^[8][13][4]
4. Any group of lines forming a unit of a poem; a stanza.^[8][9]

Word family

• strophic
• monostrophe

Related words

• antistrophe
• apostrophe
• catastrophe
• anastrophe
• epistrophe
• boustrophedon
• strabismus

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged distinguishes a strophe, a unit recurring in a series whose units need not all have the same internal structure, from a stanza, though it also gives "stanza" as a wider sense;^[8] Etymonline notes the same loosening of the word in modern use.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins