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
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
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stemma.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Stemma.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stemma. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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