triumph

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtraɪ.əmf/, /ˈtraɪ.ʌmf/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French triumphe (“achievement, conquest”) (modern triomphe),^[2][3][4] a learned borrowing of Latin triumphus, earlier triumpus,^[2][3][4] probably through Etruscan from Greek θρίαμβος (thríambos, “hymn to Dionysus”),^[3][2][4][5] itself perhaps a loan from a pre-Greek language.^[3] Merriam-Webster derives triumpus from triumpe!, a shout repeated at a Roman ceremony.^[6] Old English already had triumpha.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The procession of a victorious general into ancient Rome: about 1375 in Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite,^[2] about 893 in the OED for the Old English word.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Victory or conquest is first recorded about 1400,^[2][7] and the exultation of victory, elation, in 1582.^[2] Early writers used triumph of any stately show or pageant, not only one celebrating a victory, as in Bacon's essay Of Masks and Triumphs.^[8][7] The verb, to rejoice in victory, is probably from before 1450,^[2] and to gain a victory, prevail, from about 1500.^[3] Triumph is also the source of trump in card games.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 893 – triumpha (Old English).^[7]
• c. 1375 – a Roman triumph.^[2]
• c. 1400 – a victory.^[2][7]
• before 1450 – to triumph (verb).^[2]
• 1502 – a pageant.^[7]
• 1582 – exultation.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A great victory or success.
2. The joy or exultation felt at a victory.
3. In ancient Rome, a procession honouring a victorious general.

Verb

1. To win or succeed; to prevail.
2. To rejoice over a victory.

Word family

• triumphal
• triumpher

Related words

• triumphant
• trump

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
9. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press