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συλλαμβάνω

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Etymology and origin of the Ancient Greek word συλλαμβάνω

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
500–400 BC Pindar, Olympian 13
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek σύν,λαμβάνω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek σύν
Ancient Greek συλλαμβάνω
From the same root
Ancient Greek συμμετρία ← σύν
Ancient Greek συμπαθής ← σύν
Ancient Greek συνίστημι ← σύν
English symmetry ← σύν
English synagogue ← σύν
English synergy ← σύν
English synonym ← σύν

Pronunciation

  • 5th-century BC Attic: /syl.lam.bá.nɔː/[1]
  • 4th-century AD Koine: /syl.lamˈba.no/[1]
  • 10th-century Byzantine: /syl.lamˈba.no/[1]

Forms

σῠλλᾰμβᾰ́νω (sullambánō) [1] Future συλλήψομαι, aorist συνέλαβον (infinitive συλλαβεῖν), perfect συνείληφα, perfect passive συνείλημμαι.[2] Attic often writes ξυλλαμβάνω.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with, together”) + λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).[1][3] Beekes derives λαμβάνω (lambánō) from Proto-Indo-European *sleh₂gʷ- (“to take, grasp”), an /s/ that the aspirated perfect and the Aeginetan and Attic spellings with ⟨λh⟩ still show.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pindar has it of grasping a portent with the mind, and Aeschylus uses it too.[2][5] In Herodotus it already means to gather scattered troops, to seize ships and people, and to understand an oracle.[2]

Semantic evolution

The basic sense was “take together”: to collect, to take along, to close the mouth and eyes of a dead man, to sum up in a word.[2][3] From “lay hands on” came the legal sense to arrest, common in Attic and in the papyri; the sense “take in” led to the mental sense to comprehend.[2][6] With a dative it meant to lend a hand, to help, and in the middle voice to take part in something.[2] Of women it meant to conceive, first in the Hippocratic writers and in Aristotle.[2][3]

In the New Testament it is used of the arrest of Jesus, of a catch of fish, of conception, and in the middle voice of helping.[7] The word lives on in Modern Greek συλλαμβάνω (syllamváno), a learned form, for arresting a person, conceiving a child or an idea, and catching a signal.[8][3]

Timeline

  • 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of grasping the meaning of a portent.[2][5]
  • 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of rallying troops, seizing ships and arresting people.[2]
  • 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writers use it of a woman conceiving.[2][3]
  • 1st century AD – The Gospels use it of the arrest of Jesus and of conception.[7]
  • Modern Greek – The learned συλλαμβάνω (syllamváno) means to arrest, to conceive, and to grasp an idea.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To collect or gather together, especially scattered troops.[2][6]
  2. To take along with one; to carry off.[2]
  3. To close or put together, as the mouth and eyes of a corpse; to bind together.[2]
  4. To sum up or comprise in speech.[2]
  5. To lay hands on, seize; to arrest a person.[2][7]
  6. To comprehend the meaning of something.[2][6]
  7. Of women, to conceive.[2][7]
  8. With a dative, to help or assist someone; in the middle voice, to take part in something.[2][7]
  9. (New Testament) To catch animals, as fish.[7]

Word family

  • προσσυλλαμβάνω (prossullambánō)
  • συλλαβή (sullabḗ)
  • σύλληψις (súllēpsis)
  • συλλήβδην (sullḗbdēn)
  • συλλήπτρια (sullḗptria)
  • συλλήπτωρ (sullḗptōr)

Usage notes

The Antiatticist and related lexica note its construction with the dative when it means “help”, quoting Isocrates on fortune taking a hand.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
  4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
  6. ^ a b c Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Lexica Segueriana, in Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1814), Anecdota Graeca I, Berlin: Nauck
Cite this entry

“Συλλαμβάνω.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/grc/%CF%83%CF%85%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B1%CE%BC%CE%B2%CE%AC%CE%BD%CF%89. Accessed 2 Nov. 2026.

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