plural stemmata
ˈste-mə-tə 
1
: a simple eye present in some insects
2
: a scroll (as among the ancient Romans) containing a genealogical list
3
: a tree showing the relationships of the manuscripts of a literary work
Examples of stemma in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
According to their stemma records, 15 of the CAO clans claimed to be descendants of Emperor CAO.
—
Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 Dec. 2011
Her discipline of philology, the study of the development of texts over time, requires comparing manuscripts to each other, building a stemma, or genealogy of texts, from a parent or original manuscript.
—David M. Perry, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Mar. 2021
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Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 28 Dec. 2011
Her discipline of philology, the study of the development of texts over time, requires comparing manuscripts to each other, building a stemma, or genealogy of texts, from a parent or original manuscript.
—David M. Perry, Smithsonian Magazine, 25 Mar. 2021
Cite this Entry
“Stemma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stemma. Accessed 3 Jul. 2025.
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