Etymologically
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trophy

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈtɹəʊfi/, /ˈtɹɒfi/ (UK); /ˈtɹoʊfi/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French trophée,[2][3][4] from Latin trophaeum (“a sign of victory, monument”), earlier tropaeum,[2][3][5] from Greek τρόπαιον (trópaion, “monument of an enemy's defeat”), the neuter of tropaios, of a rout, from τροπή (tropḗ, “a turning; a rout”),[3][5][4] from τρέπω (trépein, “to turn”) (compare trope, tropic).[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A spoil or prize of war: 1513 in Barnhart and the OED, the 1510s in Etymonline.[2][8][3] Etymonline has trophe, an overwhelming victory, in the early 15th century.[3]

Semantic evolution

In ancient Greece and Rome a trophy was a pile of the weapons of a defeated army set up on the battlefield as a memorial, dedicated to a god (1550 in the OED).[6][3][8] Any token or evidence of victory or skill is from the 1560s,[3][8] and a carved representation of a classical trophy from the 1630s.[3][8] A cup or other prize for winning a contest is a later sense (MWU 1816).[4][9] The trophy wife, an attractive younger wife regarded as a status symbol, was a trending phrase from 1988–89.[3][8]

Timeline

  • early 15th century – trophe, a victory.[3]
  • 1513 – a spoil of war.[2][8]
  • 1550 – a classical battle monument.[8]
  • 1569 – any token of victory.[8]
  • 1816 – a prize (MWU).[4]
  • 1988 – trophy wife.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A cup or other decorative object awarded as a prize for a victory or success.
  2. Something kept as a memento of success, as the head of an animal killed in hunting.
  3. (history) A monument of captured arms set up on a battlefield in ancient Greece or Rome.

Adjective

  1. Acquired or displayed as a status symbol: a trophy wife.

Word family

  • trophyless
  • trophy wife
  • trophy room
  • trope
  • tropic
  • tropism

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin