stropha

Forms

stropha f (genitive strophae); first declension^[1] Also spelled strofa,^[2][3] and in the sense “strophe” also strophē.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek στροφή (strophḗ, “a turn, twist”).^[2][1][5] The sense “trick” is a metaphor that the OLD takes to come from wrestling.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Phaedrus' fables, where a cobbler wins himself a name by “wordy tricks” (verbosis strophis).^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 1st century AD the word, mostly in the plural, meant a feat of skill or agility put on to amuse,^[2][4] and more often a trick, artifice or expedient:^[2][6] Seneca looks to the day on which he will judge himself with tricks and disguises put aside,^[2] and Martial says there is nothing tricky about it: the fee must now be paid.^[2] Late Latin writers such as Macrobius used it for the strophe of a chorus, the sense of the Greek word,^[6][3] and Ecclesiastical Latin for a stanza of a hymn.^[8]

Medieval Latin kept the sense “trick, ruse”,^[9][10] and in British sources it also named a roll of parchment.^[10] Italian strofa comes from it.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus writes of a cobbler's wordy tricks.^[2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of tricks and disguises put aside.^[2][7]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of evasions.^[2][7]
• first half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius uses it for the strophe of a chorus.^[6][7]
• 1303 – A British document mentions 26 pearls kept in a roll of parchment.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feat of skill or agility put on to amuse, a trick.^[2][4]
2. An artifice, device, expedient; a ruse, deceit.^[2][6][9]
3. (Late Latin) A strophe of a chorus or lyric poem.^[6][4]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A stanza of a hymn.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A roll (of parchment).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press