συγκοπή

Forms

σῠγκοπή (sunkopḗ) f (genitive σῠγκοπῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek συγκόπτω (sunkóptō, “to cut up”) with the suffix -η (-ē),^[1][2][3] the verb being formed from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and κόπτω (kóptō, “to strike, cut”).^[3][4] Babiniotis compares the parallel pairs ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ) and ἀποκόπτω (apokóptō), προκοπή (prokopḗ) and προκόπτω (prokóptō).^[3] Etymonline traces the verb perhaps to Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to beat, strike”), and reports that Beekes leaves open an origin in the Pre-Greek or European substrate.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for a stoppage of the breath and for the cutting short of sounds in speech.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Babiniotis gives “cutting into small pieces” as the original sense:^[3] Plutarch and a papyrus of the 2nd century AD use it so, and the Periplus of the Red Sea speaks of cutting metal into pieces for coinage.^[5][7] Ignatius has it for the mangling of limbs.^[7] The treatise On the Sublime uses it figuratively for extreme conciseness of style, and also for the cutting off of the end of a word.^[5]

The grammarians made it the term for syncope, cutting a word short by dropping letters in the middle: Apollonius Dyscolus uses it, Plutarch explains a name as formed “by syncope”, and Tryphon defines it as the loss of a syllable in the middle of a word.^[5][3] In medicine Aretaeus and Galen use it for a sudden loss of strength, a fainting fit.^[5][3]

Latin took it as syncope, and the English word is recorded for the grammatical sense from the 1520s, but Etymonline notes that the English medical sense, a fainting, is older.^[4] Modern Greek keeps the learned συγκοπή (syngopí) for a loss of consciousness caused by the heart stopping and for the loss of an unstressed vowel.^[8]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – Dionysius of Halicarnassus uses it for a stoppage of breath and the cutting short of sounds.^[5][6][9]
• 1st century AD – The treatise On the Sublime uses it for extreme conciseness.^[5][6][9]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for grammatical syncope and for cutting into small pieces.^[5][2][9]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it as a grammatical term, and Aretaeus and Galen for fainting.^[5][3][9]
• 1520s – English borrows syncope for the contraction of a word, through Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – συγκοπή (syngopí) means a fainting caused by the heart stopping, and syncope in grammar.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cutting up into small pieces; the cutting of metal into pieces for coinage.^[5][7]
2. (figurative) Extreme conciseness of style.^[5]
3. (grammar) Syncope, shortening a word by striking out letters; also the cutting off of a word's end, ἀποκοπή (apokopḗ).^[5][2]
4. A stoppage or cutting short, of the breath or of sounds.^[5]
5. (medicine) A sudden loss of strength, fainting.^[5][3]

Related words

• συγκόπτω (sunkóptō)
• κόπτω (kóptō)
• Latin syncope
• English syncope

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge