συμμετρία

Forms

σῠμμετρῐ́ᾱ (summetríā) f (genitive σῠμμετρῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1] Ionic συμμετρίη.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “commensurate, in proportion”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][3] The adjective is from Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with”) and μέτρον (métron, “measure”).^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is a fragment of Democritus, of the 5th century BC, which says that cheerfulness comes to people through moderation in pleasure and “proportion in life”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

For Plato proportion was one of the marks of beauty and goodness, and he spoke of the proportion of night to day and of the parts to one another; in the plural the word meant “proportions”.^[4] The Hippocratic writers and Galen used it of the right balance of exercise and food, of drugs, and of hot and cold in health.^[4] Aristotle gave it the mathematical sense of commensurability, opposed to ἀσυμμετρία (asummetríā).^[4][2] Polybius also used it of a suitable size or height.^[2] A papyrus of the 3rd century BC uses it for a woman's robe without a train.^[4]

Latin borrowed the word as Latin symmetria, and through Latin it passed into French, English and German.^[3] The Modern Greek word συμμετρία (simetría) is a learned continuation of the ancient one, and took its modern sense from French symétrie.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Democritus speaks of “proportion in life”.^[4][3]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic Regimen uses it of the balance of exercise and food.^[4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato makes it a mark of beauty and goodness.^[4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for commensurability.^[4][2]
• 3rd century BC – A papyrus uses it for a woman's robe without a train.^[4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it of the right proportion of foods and drugs.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned word takes the sense of French “symétrie”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Commensurability.^[4][2]
2. Symmetry, due proportion, as a mark of beauty; in the plural, proportions.^[4][2]
3. Suitability, fitness.^[2][4]
4. A suitable size or height.^[2][4]
5. A woman's robe without a train.^[4]

Word family

• ἀσυμμετρία (asummetríā)

Related words

• σύμμετρος (súmmetros)
• μέτρον (métron)
• Latin symmetria

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki