συμπίπτω

Forms

σῠμπῑ́πτω (sumpī́ptō) ^[1] Future συμπεσοῦμαι, aorist συνέπεσον, perfect συμπέπτωκα.^[2] Attic also has ξυμπίπτω.^[3]

Etymology

It is a compound from Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “together”) + πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”).^[1][4] Beekes traces πίπτω (píptō), a reduplicated present, to Proto-Indo-European *petH- (“to fly, fall”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer has it with the parts still separate: in the Odyssey the winds “fall together”, and in the Iliad champions fall upon one another.^[6][3] The compound is found in Pindar, of a wrestler coming to grips with an opponent.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

From clashing in battle it came to mean meeting by chance, with people or misfortunes, and then, of events, to befall or happen to someone, often impersonally “it happens that”.^[3][6] Herodotus also uses it for things that agree or coincide.^[3][8] Of buildings it meant to fall in or collapse, and of bodies to shrink.^[3][9]

The Septuagint uses it for meeting violently, falling and collapsing.^[10] In the New Testament it is used of a house that falls down in a heap.^[9][11] The noun σύμπτωμα (súmptōma) was derived from it.^[1][4] Modern Greek συμπίπτω (simbípto) is a learned word meaning to coincide in time or to agree.^[12][8]

Timeline

• Homer – The Odyssey and the Iliad use the verb, split by tmesis, of winds and fighters clashing.^[6][3]
• 6th–5th century BC – Pindar uses it of a wrestler getting to grips.^[3][13]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it of meeting with misfortune and of events that happen to people.^[3][6][13]
• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of ships colliding and buildings collapsing.^[3][6][13]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of the sides of a triangle converging.^[3][13]
• 1st century AD – Luke's Gospel uses it of a house falling in.^[9]
• Modern Greek – The learned verb means to coincide.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall together, meet violently; of fighters, to clash, engage; of ships, to collide.^[6][3]
2. To fall in with, meet; to meet with misfortunes.^[3][6]
3. Of events, to befall, happen; impersonally, it happens that.^[3][6]
4. To coincide, agree.^[3]
5. Of buildings, to fall in, collapse.^[3][9]
6. Of a body, to shrink; of lines or rivers, to converge.^[3]

Word family

• σύμπτωμα (súmptōma)
• ἀσύμπτωτος (asúmptōtos)

Related words

• πίπτω (píptō)
• πτῶμα (ptôma)

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge