A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achievement, and serves as a recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are often awarded for sporting events, from youth sports to professional level athletics. In many sports medals (or, in North America, rings) are often given out either as the trophy or along with more traditional trophies. Originally the word trophy, derived from the Greek tropaion, referred to arms, standards, other property, or human captives and body parts (e. g., headhunting) captured in battle. These war trophies commemorated the military victories of a state, army or individual combatant. In modern warfare trophy taking is discouraged, but this sense of the word is reflected in hunting trophies and human trophy collecting by serial killers. Etymology Trophies have marked victories since ancient times. The word trophy, coined in English in 1550, was derived from the French trophe in 1513, 'a prize of war', from Old French trophee, from Latin trophaeum, monument to victory, variant of tropaeum, which in turn is the latinisation of the Greek (tropaion), the neuter of (tropaios), 'of defeat' or 'for defeat', but generally 'of a turning' or 'of a change', from (trop), 'a turn, a change' and that from the verb (trepo), 'to turn, to alter'. In ancient Greece, trophies were made on the battlefields of victorious battles, from captured arms and standards, and were hung upon a tree or a large stake made to resemble a warrior. Often, these ancient trophies were inscribed with a story of the battle and were dedicated to various gods. Trophies made about naval victories sometimes consisted of entire ships (or what remained of them) laid out on the beach.
