συλλογισμός

Forms

σῠλλογῐσμός (sullogismós) m (genitive σῠλλογῐσμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a verbal noun from Ancient Greek συλλογίζομαι (sullogízomai, “to compute, infer”) with the suffix -μός (-mós).^[1] The verb is λογίζομαι (logízomai, “to reckon”) with σύν (sún, “together”).^[1][2]

It was borrowed into Latin as syllogismus.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato uses it in the Cratylus (412a) of the putting together of observations and in the Theaetetus (186d) of reasoning; it also appears in the Hippocratic On Decorum.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Plato the word means reckoning or reasoning in general, the bringing together of impressions to reach a conclusion.^[5][6] Aristotle made it the technical name of the deductive argument he analysed in the Prior Analytics: an argument in which, certain things being laid down, something else follows of necessity from them.^[5][6] He distinguished demonstrative, dialectical and eristic syllogisms, set the syllogism against induction (ἐπαγωγή), and called the rhetorical enthymeme a kind of syllogism.^[5] Outside logic the word kept the sense “calculation”: Polybius uses it of a plan or calculation, an Ephesian inscription and Diodorus of assessments, and the Septuagint of taking a count of the people.^[5][7] Later rhetoricians used it for inference from written to unwritten law.^[5]

Modern Greek συλλογισμός (syllogismós) continues the ancient word, meaning both reasoning and the logical syllogism.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of reasoning and of putting observations together.^[5][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle makes it the term for the deductive argument, the syllogism.^[5][6]
• 3rd century BC – An inscription from Ephesus uses it of an assessment of property.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of calculations and plans.^[5][6]
• 1st century BC – Diodorus Siculus uses it of a reckoning by rank.^[5]
• 2nd century AD – Hermogenes uses it of inference from written to unwritten law.^[5]
• Modern Greek – συλλογισμός (syllogismós) means reasoning and the syllogism of logic.^[8][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. Computation, calculation; assessment.^[5][7]
2. Reasoning, the process of drawing a conclusion.^[5][6]
3. A conclusion or inference.^[6][5]
4. A plan or scheme worked out by calculation.^[5]
5. (logic) A deductive argument with a conclusion drawn from two premises, a syllogism.^[5][6]
6. (rhetoric) Inference from written to unwritten law.^[5]

Related words

• συλλογίζομαι (sullogízomai)
• λογίζομαι (logízomai)
• λόγος (lógos)
• ἐνθύμημα (enthū́mēma)
• Latin syllogismus
• English syllogism

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens