LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininethird declension

stirps

stirps f (genitive stirpis)
Classical[ˈstɪrps]Ecclesiastical[ˈstirps]

Meaning

  1. femininerootstock; the lowest part of the trunk of a plant, including the roots.
  2. femininea plant, shrub, shoot, sprout
  3. femininelineage, race, family, stock
  4. femininepoeticscion, offspring, progeny
    Stirpem frātris virīlem interimit[He] kills the male scion of his brother27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab urbe condita I.3
  5. femininesource, origin, cause

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Stirps · Truncus

Stirps (στέριφος) denotes the stock as the animating and supporting principal part of a tree, in opp. to the branches and leaves, as growing from it and dependent upon it; truncus, the naked, dry part of the tree, in opp. to the branches and leaves, and even to the top itself, as its ornament; in short, so far as it answers to the trunk of the human body. (iv. 322.)

Stirps · Genus · Gens · Prosapia · Posteritas · Progenies · Proles · Suboles

1. Stirps, genus, and gens, denote the race usually in an ascending line, as abstract and collective terms, for majores; whereas prosapia, progenies, propago, proles, suboles, in a descending line, as abstract and collective terms for posteri. 2. Prosapia is an antiquated solemn expression, and only to be used of ancient noble families, Cic. Univ. 11. Quintil. i. 6, 40; posteritas, the usual prosaic, progenies, a select, elevated expression, Cic. Rep. ii. 22; proles and suboles, poetical expressions, Cic. Or. iii. 38; proles denotes children, as fruits destined, as a younger race, to exist with their parents; suboles, as an after-growth, destined to supply the place of the generation that is dying off. 3. Gens (γενετή) is a political, genus (γένος), a natural race. Gens consists of families, whom the founder of states has united into a community or complex family; genus consists of species and individuals, that by their common properties belong to one and the same class of beings. (v. 307).

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativestirpsstirpēs
genitivestirpisstirpium
dativestirpīstirpibus
accusativestirpemstirpēs
stirpīs
ablativestirpestirpibus
vocativestirpsstirpēs

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

ea, quae a terra stirpibus continentur
the vegetable kingdom.
ea quorum stirpes terra continentur (N. D. 2. 10. 26)
the vegetable kingdom.

stirps (collat. form of the nom. stir-pes or stirpis, in the best MSS., Liv. 1, 1 fin.; 41, 8, 10; 26, 13, 16; v. Drak. ad locc.), pis, f. (poet. and post-Aug.; also m., Enn. ap. Fest. p. 313 Müll., and ap. Non. 226, 32 (Ann. 184); Pac. ap. Non. 227, 2 (Trag. Fragm. 421), and ap. Charis. p. 85 P.; Cato, R. R. 40, 2; Verg. G. 2, 379; id. A. 12, 208; 12, 770; 12, 781; Col. 5, 9, 13; Plin. 8, 26, 40, § 96; cf. Quint. 1, 6, 2) [root star-; cf. sternere; Gr. στορέννυμι; prop. that which extends or spreads].
I. Lit., the lower part of the trunk of plants, including the roots; a stock, stem, stalk; a root (class. and very freq.; cf. radix): arborum altitudo nos delectat. radices stirpesque non item, Cic. Or. 43, 147: terra stirpes amplexa alat, id. N. D. 2, 33, 83; cf. id. ib. 2, 10, 26; 2, 47, 120; 2, 51, 127: ut tantum modo per stirpis alantur suas, id. ib. 2, 32, 81: sceptrum in silvis imo de stirpe recisum, Verg. A. 12, 208: harundo omnis ex unā stirpe numerosa, Plin. 16, 36, 65, § 163: palmarum stirpibus ali, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 38, § 99; so, palmarum, id. ib. 2, 5, 50, § 131 (for which: radices palmarum, id. ib. 2, 5, 33, § 87); cf.: lento in stirpe moratus, Verg. A. 12, 781 (for which, just before: lentā in radice): stirpes raptas volvere, Hor. C. 3, 29, 37: validis amplexae stirpibus ulmos, Verg. G. 2, 367: hic stirpes obruit arvo, id. ib. 2, 24: domos avium cum stirpibus imis Eruit, id. ib. 2, 209; cf. of hair: vellere albos ab stirpe capillos, Prop. 3 (4), 25, 13. Tib. 1, 8, 45: ex hac nimiā licentiā, ut ex stirpe quādam, exsistere, etc., Cic. Rep. 1, 44, 68.—
B. Transf.
1. Of vegetables.
a. A plant, shrub (esp. freq. in plur.): stirpium naturae, Cic. Fin. 5, 4, 10; cf.: cum arborum et stirpium eadem paene natura sit, id. ib. 5, 11, 33; so (with arbores) id. Phil. 2, 22, 55; (with herbae) id. N. D. 2, 64, 161: pati (terram) stirpium asperitate vastari, id. ib. 2, 39, 99: stirpes tenent, Luc. 4, 42: internatas saxis stirpes et herbas vellentes, Tac. H. 4, 60.—
b. A shoot, sprout: rami stirpesque, Lucr. 5, 1100: stirpem praecisum circumligato, etc., Cato, R. R. 40, 2: probatissimum genus stirpis deponere, i. e. malleolos, Col. 3, 5, 4: stirpem post annum praecidi, id. 5, 6, 13: stirpis committere ramis, engraft, Lucr. 5, 1365.—
2. Of persons.
a. A stem, stock, race, family, lineage (cf.: genus, familia): ignoratio stirpis et generis, Cic. Lael. 19, 70: stirpis ac gentilitatis jus, id. de Or. 1, 39, 176: qui sunt ejusdem stirpis, id. Rab. Post. 1, 2: a stirpe supremo, Enn. ap. Non. 226, 32 (Ann. v. 184 Vahl.): divinae stirpis Acestes, Verg. A. 5, 711: Priami de stirpe, id. ib. 5, 297: Herculis stirpe generatus, Cic. Rep. 2, 12, 24: hinc orti stirpe antiquissimā sumus, id. Leg. 2, 1, 3: hominum sceleratorum, Caes. B. G. 6, 34: ab stirpe socius et amicus populi Romani, Sall. J. 14, 2 et saep.: unum relictum, stirpem genti Fabiae futurum, Liv. 2, 50 fin.—
b. Like Engl. scion, = offspring, descendant, progeny (mostly poet.; not in Cic.): stirps liberum, Enn. ap. Varr. L. L. 7, § 16 Müll. (Trag. v. 317 Vahl.); so, liberum, Liv. 45, 11; cf.: aliquis magnā de stirpe nepotum, Verg. A. 6, 864: stirps et genus omne futurum, id. ib. 4, 622; cf.: en stirps et progenies tot consulum, tot dictatorum, Tac. A. 2, 37 fin.: stirpis virilis, Liv. 1, 1, 11; cf.: qui stirpem ex sese domi relinquerent, id. 41, 8, 9.—
II. Trop., source, origin, foundation, first beginning, cause, etc.: altae stirpes stultitiae, Cic. Tusc. 3, 6, 13: superstitionis stirpes, id. Div. 2, 72, 149: virtutis, id. Cael. 32, 79: quā ex stirpe orirentur amicitiae cognationum, id. Fin. 4, 7, 17: quodsi exquiratur usque ab stirpe auctoritas, Plaut. Trin. 1, 2, 180: populum a stirpe repetere, Cic. Rep. 3, 12, 21 Mos.: repetam stirpem juris a naturā, id. Leg. 1, 6, 20: stirps ac semen malorum omnium, id. Cat. 1, 12, 30; cf.: ea pars, quae quasi stirps est hujus quaestionis, id. Fin. 4, 2, 5: non ingenerantur hominibus mores tam a stirpe generis ac seminis, quam, etc., original nature, id. Agr. 2, 35, 95; cf.: exoletā stirpe gentis, Liv. 37, 8, 4.—So esp. in phrase ab stirpe, utterly: Karthago ab stirpe interiit, Sall. C. 10, 1: gens ab stirpe exstincta est, Liv. 9, 34, 19: omne genus ab stirpe sublatum esse, id. 34, 2, 3; cf.: omnis intra annum cum stirpe exstinctos, id. 9, 29, 10: velut ab stirpibus renata urbs, id. 6, 1, 3.

Origins

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

Descendants
  • Catalanestirp
  • Englishstirpes
  • Englishstirps
  • Italiansterpo
  • Italianstirpe
  • Portugueseestirpe
  • Romanianstirpe
  • Romanianstâlpare
  • Sardinianistripa
  • Spanishestirpe

Quick answers

What does stirps mean in Latin?
stirps, a noun, means “rootstock; the lowest part of the trunk of a plant, including the roots.; a plant, shrub, shoot, sprout”.
What is the genitive of stirps?
The genitive singular is stirpis. stirps is feminine, third declension.
How do you pronounce stirps?
In classical Latin, [ˈstɪrps]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈstirps].