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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 Trophy hunting is a form of hunting for sport in which parts of the hunted wild animals are kept and displayed as trophies. The animal being targeted, known as the "game", is typically a mature male specimen from a popular species of collecta ...
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 ''trophée'' 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 τρόπαιον ('' tropaion''), the neuter of τροπαῖος (''tropaios''), "of defeat" or "for defeat", but generally "of a turning" or "of a change", from τροπή (''tropē''), "a turn, a change" and that from the verb τρέπω (''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. To destroy a trophy was considered a sacrilege. The ancient Romans kept their trophies closer to home. The Romans built magnificent trophies in Rome, including columns and arches atop a foundation. Most of the stone trophies that once adorned huge