stirps

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin stirps (“rootstock, stem”).

Noun

stirps (plural stirpes)

1. A branch of a family.
2. A progenitor of a branch of a family.
3. (zoology, botany) A superfamily of animals or plants.

Related terms

• stirp
• stirpes

Etymology 2

Noun

stirps

1. plural of stirp

Anagrams

• spirts, sprits, strips

Latin

Alternative forms

• stirpēs
• stirpis

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *sterp-, *ster- (“stiff”), related to Lithuanian sterptis (“to stiffen”), Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”), Proto-Germanic *staraz (“stiff”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /stirps/, [s̠t̪ɪrps̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /stirps/, [st̪irps]

Noun

stirps f (genitive stirpis); third declension

1. rootstock; the lowest part of the trunk of a plant, including the roots.
2. a plant, shrub, shoot, sprout
3. (of people) lineage, race, family, stock
4. scion, offspring, progeny

   Synonyms: partus, stirpis, prōlēs

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.3:

     Stirpem fratris virilem interimit

     [He] kills the male scion of his brother

5. source, origin, cause

   Synonym: orīgō

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	stirps	stirpēs
genitive	stirpis	stirpium
dative	stirpī	stirpibus
accusative	stirpem	stirpēs stirpīs
ablative	stirpe	stirpibus
vocative	stirps	stirpēs

Derived terms

• exstirpō
• stirpitus

Descendants

• Catalan: estirp
• English: stirpes, stirps
• Galician: esterpa, estripeiro
• Italian: sterpo, stirpe
• Piedmontese: stirpe
• Portuguese: estirpe
• Romanian: stirpe, stâlpare
• Spanish: estirpe

References

• “stirps”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “stirps”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• stirps in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.