'strophic' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'strophē', where 'strophē' meant 'a turning' or 'a stanza'.

'strophē' passed into Late Latin/Medieval Latin and via French musical terminology (e.g. 'strophique') entered English as the adjective 'strophic' in the context of song forms in the 18th–19th centuries.

Initially it referred to 'turning' or a 'turn' (and by extension a stanza); over time it came to refer specifically to the musical practice of setting successive stanzas to the same music ('same tune for each verse').