στροφή

Forms

στροφή (strophḗ) f (genitive στροφῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an action noun from Ancient Greek στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn, twist”), formed with the suffix -η (-ē).^[1] Πάπυρος explains it as the stem of the verb in its o-grade, and notes that the feminine names the act of turning, unlike the masculine στρόφος (stróphos).^[2][3]

Pokorny doubts that the verb and its family belong to his root Proto-Indo-European *(s)ter- (“stiff”), and prefers a separate root for “to turn, wind”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Aeschylus's Suppliant Women, where it means the persuasive turns of a public speaker's words.^[5][6][7] In Euripides it is the rolling of a madman's eyes.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Greek it was any turning: of a horse in Xenophon, of a dancer's pirouette, of the circling stars and of the seasons in Plato.^[5][6] A wrestler's twist to escape a hold gave it the sense “dodge, trick”, common in Aristophanes and Plato.^[5][6] Aristophanes also used it for the turns and modulations of the new music.^[5][6] In the theatre it was the turning of the chorus, and so the strain sung during that movement, the strophe answered by the ἀντιστροφή (antistrophḗ).^[5][8]

The Septuagint uses it figuratively for subtlety and the craft of words.^[9] It was borrowed as Latin stropha,^[10] and English took it as strophe about 1600.^[8] Later uses include the turning of a road at Delphi, the winding of a winch in a papyrus and, in the alchemist Zosimus, the transmutation of metals.^[5]

The word lives on in στροφή (strofí), a change of direction, a bend in a road and, figuratively, a change of policy.^[11][2] Its sense of rotation about an axis is a learned semantic loan from French tour and English revolution, and its metrical sense is a learned revival.^[11]

Timeline

• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses it of the persuasive turns of a speech.^[5][6]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it of rolling eyes, and Pherecrates of the strain sung by the chorus.^[5][6]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Plato use it for tricks and dodges, and Xenophon for a horse's turn.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it as the term of metre.^[5][12]
• 3rd–4th century AD – Zosimus the alchemist uses it of the transmutation of metals.^[5][12]
• About 1600 – English borrows it as strophe.^[8]
• Modern Greek – It means a turn of direction and a bend in a road.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turning or turn: of a horse, a dancer's pirouette, the rolling of the eyes.^[5][6]
2. Circling, revolution: of the stars, of the moon, of the seasons.^[5][6]
3. A wrestler's twist; hence a trick or dodge, and a twist of argument.^[5][6]
4. (music) A turn or modulation in the new style of music.^[5][6]
5. (metre) The turning of the chorus, and the strophe sung during it.^[5]
6. The turning of a road; the winding of a winch.^[5]
7. (Septuagint) Subtlety; literary craft.^[9]
8. (alchemy) The transmutation of metals.^[5]

Word family

• ἀναστροφή (anastrophḗ)
• ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ)
• διαστροφή (diastrophḗ)
• ἐπιστροφή (epistrophḗ)
• καταστροφή (katastrophḗ)
• μεταστροφή (metastrophḗ)
• παρεπιστροφή (parepistrophḗ)
• περιστροφή (peristrophḗ)
• συστροφή (sustrophḗ)
• ὑποστροφή (hupostrophḗ)
• ἀντιστροφή (antistrophḗ)
• βουστροφηδόν (boustrophēdón)
• ἐκστροφή (ekstrophḗ)
• ἐνστροφή (enstrophḗ)

Related words

• στρέφω (stréphō)
• στρόφος (stróphos)
• Latin stropha
• English strophe

Usage notes

Hesychius and Zonaras gloss στροφαί as “lightning flashes”, a variant of στροπά (stropá).^[5][13] Plato's phrase “to turn every twist” means to try every evasion.^[5][14]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ Bailly, Anatole (1901), Abrégé du dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
14. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli