Tropæan

See also: tropaean

English

Alternative forms

• Tropaean

Etymology

From Latin tropae(us) (“turning back”, “returning”, adjective) + -an; from the Plinian phrase ventī tropaeī (“sea-breezes”, literally “winds blowing from the sea towards the land”), from Ancient Greek τροπαῖος (tropaîos, adjective) (also used in the noun phrase πνοή τροπαία (pnoḗ tropaía, “an alternating wind, blowing back from sea to land”)), from τρόπος (trópos, “turning”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: trōpēʹən, IPA^(key): /tɹəʊˈpiːən/

Adjective

Tropæan (not comparable)

1. (obsolete, rare, of an air current) Blowing from sea to land.
   • 1686, Robert Plot, chapter 2, in The Natural History of Staffordshire, page 44:

     The frequent rains brought by the Tropæan winds from the Irish Seas.

References

• “† Tropæ·an, a.” listed on page 397 of volume X, part I (Ti–U), § i (Ti–Tz) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1926]
  † Tropæ·an, a. Obs. rare ^{— 1}. [f. L. tropæ-us adj. (Pliny) + -an: compare Gr. τροπαία ‘(sc. πνοή) an alternating wind, one which blows back from sea to land’ (L. & Sc.), f. τρόπος turning.] Blowing from sea to land; tropæan winds, sea-breezes. [¶] 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 44 The frequent rains brought by the Tropæan winds from the Irish Seas.
• “†troˈpæan, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989)

Proper noun

Tropæan

1. (Greek and Roman antiquities, rare) An epithet of Jupiter and Zeus: turner to flight; he who puts to flight.
   • 1813, Sophocles (author) and R. Potter (translator), “Antigone” (lines 156–161) in The Tragedies of Sophocles, page 142:

     At the seven gates seven Argive warriors rag’d, / / But, Chief with daring Chief engag’d, / / Left to Tropæan Jove their glittering spoils.

   • 1898, Sir James George Frazer (translator), Pausanias’s Description of Greece I, page 152:

     The sanctuary of Tropaean (‘turner to flight’) Zeus was made by the Dorians after they had conquered the Amyclaeans and the rest of the Achaeans.

Anagrams

• Paretoan, paratone