συμβάλλω

Forms

συμβάλλω (sumbállō) ^[1] Older Attic and Ionic also ξυμβάλλω (xumbállō).^[2][3] Homer uses only the present and aorist active and middle, most often the epic intransitive aorist forms built on the stem βλη-, such as 3rd dual συμβλήτην (sumblḗtēn) and middle ξύμβλητο (xúmblēto).^[4][2][5]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek συμ- (sum-, “together”) + βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”), with the prefix form of σύν (sún, “with”) used before a labial.^[1][5] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷelH-, through Proto-Hellenic *gʷəlnō.^[1]

The literal sense is “throw together”: the verb is used of things or people brought into contact, whether in combat, in agreement, in a common stock or in the mind.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it of torrents that join their waters, of setting warriors against each other to fight, and in the middle of meeting someone; in the Iliad a speaker asks that “Menelaus and me” be matched to fight.^[5][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the physical sense of bringing together, Classical Greek developed several lines of use.^[2] Intransitively it meant to join battle or clash, and of roads or rivers to meet.^[2][4] In the middle it meant to contribute money, help or an opinion to a common cause, and Thucydides says that fortune contributes no less than anything else to making men bold.^[2][4] In Attic law and business it meant to make a contract, especially to lend money on security, as in Plato and Demosthenes.^[4][2] A mental use, “put together in the mind”, gave the senses to compare, to conjecture and to interpret an oracle or a dream, common in Herodotus.^[2]

The derivative σύμβολον (súmbolon), first a token made of two matching halves, comes from the sense “fit together”, which Aristotle uses of the verb itself.^[4] In the New Testament it means to converse or confer, to ponder (Mary “pondering” the shepherds' words in her heart, Luke 2:19), to meet, and to fight.^[7]

Modern Greek συμβάλλω (symvállo) is a learned borrowing from the ancient verb; its main sense is to contribute to a result, and the middle means to sign a contract.^[8][9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of uniting streams and of matching warriors in battle.^[5][4]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses the middle of adding something to an account,^[2] and Aeschylus uses it of closing the eyes in sleep or death.^[2][4][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of comparing, conjecturing and interpreting, and of reckoning months.^[2][10]
• 4th century BC – Demosthenes uses it of making a loan contract.^[4][2][10]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of ships engaging in battle.^[2][10]
• 1st century AD – The Gospel of Luke uses it of pondering words in one's heart, and Acts of conferring.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The learned συμβάλλω (symvállo) means to contribute to something.^[8][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw or bring together; to dash together (shields, waters); (intransitive) of rivers and roads, to meet, join.^[4][2][5]
2. To join, unite: to twist ropes, to close the eyes.^[4][2]
3. To match or set against one another in fight;^[2] (intransitive) to join battle, clash.^[2][5][4]
4. To engage in (war, strife, talk) with someone; to meet, fall in with.^[2]
5. (middle) To contribute (money, help, an opinion); (intransitive) to help towards something.^[2][4]
6. To make a contract, especially to lend money on security.^[4][2]
7. (middle) To come to terms, to arrange (a meeting).^[2]
8. To compare; to class together.^[2]
9. To put together in the mind: to conjecture, infer, interpret (an oracle, a dream).^[2]
10. (middle) To reckon, calculate.^[2]
11. (New Testament) To converse, confer; to ponder.^[7]

Word family

• συμβόλαιον (sumbólaion)
• συμβολεύω (sumboleúō)
• συμβολή (sumbolḗ)
• σύμβολον (súmbolon)
• σύμβολος (súmbolos)
• συμβολικός (sumbolikós)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 t u v w x Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
6. ^ 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 Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
10. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge