strophe

Forms

strophe f (plural strophes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stropha (“strophe”), from Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ, “a turning”).^[2][3][4][1] In Greek the word was used for the movements of the lyric chorus on the stage and for the song it sang while turning, and figuratively for “a trick”, like French tour³.^[3][5] It derives from στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”), a verb of unknown origin.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ronsard introduced it in 1550, in the preface to his odes, as a masculine noun, for the first of the three parts of an ancient Greek ode, sung by the chorus as it moved across the stage.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

A critic of Ronsard mocked him for bringing in the “big, strange words” strophe and antistrophe, unheard of before.^[5] The feminine gender appeared in the 17th century.^[3][7] From 1669 the word named a group of lines bound together by a fixed pattern of metres and rhymes; it was used at first of odes, beside stance for other kinds of poem, and only in the 19th century did it become the ordinary word for a stanza.^[2][3][4] Molière used it in 1671 for a verse of a song, where couplet is more usual.^[2][3] English strophe dates from about 1600.^[8]

Timeline

• 1550 – Ronsard uses it, as a masculine noun, of the Greek ode.^[2][3]
• c. 1600 – English strophe is first recorded.^[8]
• 17th century – The noun becomes feminine.^[3]
• 1669 – Widerhold's French–German dictionary records the sense “stanza”.^[2][7]
• 1671 – Molière uses it for a verse of a song.^[2][7]
• Late 19th century – The derivative strophique appears.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (ancient Greek poetry) The first of the three parts of a choral lyric, followed by the antistrophe and the épode.^[2][9][7]
2. (versification) A stanza: a group of lines with a fixed arrangement of metres and rhymes: un poème en quatre strophes.^[9][2][1]
3. A verse of a song; a couplet.^[9][7]

Word family

• strophique

Related words

• antistrophe
• Latin stropha
• Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ)
• English strophe

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert