Triumph

The story of the word

The Greek word names a song sung in procession for Dionysus. Latin triumphus most likely reached Rome through Etruscan, which explains why the th flattened to t. Whether θρίαμβος is Greek at all is disputed: it shares its odd ending with διθύραμβος and ἴαμβος, and all three are often assigned to a pre-Greek layer of the language. The Roman triumph itself was a licensed procession up to the Capitol, with the crowd shouting io triumphe.

How it travelled

Ancient Greek → Etruscan → Latin → Old French → English

First recorded

14th century