τρόπος

Forms

τρόπος (trópos) m (genitive τρόπου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an action noun with the vowel o from Ancient Greek τρέπω (trépō, “to turn”), like ψόγος (psógos) beside ψέγω (pségō).^[2][1][3] τρέπω comes from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”), with cognates in Sanskrit त्रपते (trápate, “is ashamed”) and Hittite terepp- (“to plough”).^[2] Chantraine finds the root *trep- uncertain and also considers a base with a labiovelar, which Mycenaean Greek to-ro-qo, perhaps “twisted cord” or “manner”, would support.^[4][5] Beekes rejects the Mycenaean connection.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CGL cites Semonides and Theognis for its sense “ways, character”, and Theognis names a man's temper, rhythm and ways together.^[6][7][8] Pindar uses it for a manner of doing something, a musical mode and a style of song.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Herodotus still has the concrete sense “direction”, of canals running every way, but the usual meaning from the 5th century BC is “way, manner, fashion”.^[7][6] It forms many adverbial phrases: τίνι τρόπῳ; “how?”, παντὶ τρόπῳ “by all means”, οὐδενὶ τρόπῳ “in no way”, κατὰ τρόπον “duly”, ἀπὸ τρόπου “absurd”.^[7][6] Of persons it means habits and character, often in the plural, and Thucydides sets τρόποι against laws.^[7][6]

Specialists gave it technical senses: a musical mode or style (Pindar, Plato), a style of speech (Plato, Isocrates), a trope in rhetoric, and the mood of a syllogism or a method of explanation in Stoic and Epicurean logic.^[7][6] In the papyri it is the tenor of a document, and in the New Testament ὃν τρόπον means “just as”.^[7][9] Moschion uses it for a beam, a sense also found in Modern Greek.^[7][2]

Modern Greek τρόπος (trópos) means way, means, manner of behaving (and in the plural, good manners); its musical sense is a learned revival.^[10][3] Through Latin tropus it gave English trope in rhetoric in the 1530s, and the combining form tropo- of scientific terms.^[11]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Semonides uses it of a person's ways.^[6][12]
• 6th century BC – Theognis speaks of a man's temper and ways.^[7][6][12]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of a manner of doing, a musical mode and a style.^[7][6][12]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of the direction of canals, and Attic prose for “way, manner”.^[7][6][12]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of musical and literary style.^[7][6][12]
• 1st century AD – The Epistle to the Hebrews asks for a way of life free from love of money.^[7][9]
• 1530s – English borrows trope through Latin.^[11]
• Modern Greek – τρόπος (trópos) means way, manner, and in the plural good manners.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A turn, direction.^[7][6]
2. A way, manner, fashion of doing something; in many adverbial phrases, τίνι τρόπῳ; “how?”, παντὶ τρόπῳ “by all means”.^[7][6][9]
3. The nature or style of a thing.^[6]
4. A person's ways, habits, character, temper.^[7][6]
5. (music) A mode; more generally a style.^[7][6]
6. (rhetoric) A manner of speaking; in the plural, tropes.^[7]
7. (logic) The mood of a syllogism; a method of explanation.^[7]
8. A beam.^[7][2]

Word family

• ἀρχαιότροπος (arkhaiótropos)
• ὁμοιότροπος (homoiótropos)
• πολύτροπος (polútropos)
• τροπαῖος (tropaîos)
• ἐπίτροπος (epítropos)

Related words

• τροπή (tropḗ)
• τροπικός (tropikós)
• τρέπω (trépō)
• English trope

Usage notes

τρόπος “turn, manner” differs only by its accent from τροπός (tropós), the leather thong that tied an oar to the thole-pin in the Odyssey.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
5. ^ Микенско-русский словарь (Mycenaean–Russian dictionary)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
9. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge