sub rosa

English

WOTD – 5 August 2024

Etymology

PIE word
*upó

Louis-Philippe Mouchy, Harpocrate, dieu du silence (Harpocrates, the God of Silence, 1789). In Ancient Greek mythology, Harpocrates was given a rose by Eros to ensure that the sexual indiscretions of Eros’s mother Aphrodite were not revealed. This is said to have led the rose to become a symbol of secrecy.

The adverb and adjective are an unadapted borrowing from Late Latin sub rosā (literally “under the rose”), from Latin sub (“beneath, under”) + rosa (“rose”) (possibly from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon, “rose”), ultimately from Proto-Iranian *wardah (“flower; rose”) and Proto-Indo-European *Hwerdʰ-, possibly a metathesis of *h₁lewdʰ- (“to grow; to rise”)). The reason for the reference to a rose is uncertain, though it has been suggested that it derives from the Ancient Greek myth that Aphrodite (the goddess of love) gave a rose to her son Eros (the god of love and sex), who in turn gave it to Harpocrates (the god of silence, confidentiality, and secrets) to ensure that Aphrodite’s sexual indiscretions were not revealed. Roses thus became a symbol of secrecy—they were, for example, used at meetings to pledge the participants not to disclose what had been discussed. Compare under the rose which is attested earlier.

The noun is derived from the adverb and adjective.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsʌb ˈɹəʊzə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsʌb ˈɹoʊzə/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Adverb

sub rosa (comparative more sub rosa, superlative most sub rosa)

1. Covertly or in secret; confidentially, privately, secretly. [from 17th c.]

   Synonyms: behind the scenes, under the rose, under the table

   Antonyms: above-board, openly, publicly

   They held the meeting sub rosa.

   • 1833 July 1, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Mandeville’s Fable of the Bees—Bestial Theory—Character of Bertram—Beaumont and Fletcher’s Dramas—Æschylus, Sophocles, Euripides—Milton”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume II, London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC, pages 203–204:

     By the by, I wonder some of you lawyers (sub rosa, of course) have not quoted the pithy lines in Mandeville […]

   • 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter IX, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC, part II, page 188:

     I run my boat into New York, buy from Yankee firms, sub rosa, of course, and away I go.

Translations

covertly or in secret — see confidentially,‎ privately,‎ secretly

Adjective

sub rosa (comparative more sub rosa, superlative most sub rosa)

1. Carried out confidentially or secretly.

   Synonyms: behind the scenes, under the rose, under the table; see also Thesaurus:covert

   Antonyms: above-board, open, public

   • 1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 6, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 160:

     He began a sub rosa campaign of obstruction, terror and depredation along the Thurn and Taxis mail routes.

2. Not formally stated; implicit, tacit, unspoken.

   Antonyms: explicit, expressed, spoken

Translations

carried out confidentially or secretly

• Finnish: kulissientakainen
• Galician: please add this translation if you can

not formally stated — see implicit,‎ tacit,‎ unspoken

Noun

sub rosa (uncountable)

1. (US, law, slang) Covert surveillance video used as evidence against applicants for workers' compensation to show they are not in fact (seriously) injured.
   • 2006 March 23, Daniel Blackburn, “Fraud Busters”, in New Times‎^[1]:

     Questions about Esparza's surveillance practices were exacerbated by an incident in December 2003, in which another subject of a sub-rosa complained of being followed by Esparza wielding a video camera.

Alternative forms

• subrosa, sub-rosa (noun)

Translations

covert surveillance video used as evidence against applicants for workers’ compensation

• Finnish: salaa kuvattu video
• Galician: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• sub rosa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia