sub rosa
/ˌsʌb ˈɹoʊzə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.74 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adv
adj
noun
Covert surveillance video used as evidence against applicants for workers' compensation to show they are not in fact (seriously) injured.
American usage; Slang; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "They held the meeting sub rosa."
- "By the by, I wonder some of you lawyers (sub rosa, of course) have not quoted the pithy lines in Mandeville […]"
- "I run my boat into New York, buy from Yankee firms, sub rosa, of course, and away I go."
- "He began a sub rosa campaign of obstruction, terror and depredation along the Thurn and Taxis mail routes."
- "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."
Etymology
PIE word *upó 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.
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌsʌb ˈɹoʊzə/
- British English: /ˌsʌb ˈɹəʊzə/
Usage
- American usage
- Slang
- Uncountable
Inflected Forms
more sub rosa (comparative)
most sub rosa (superlative)
subrosa (alternative)
sub-rosa (alternative)