συμπόσιον

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sym.pó.si.on/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /symˈpo.si.on/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /symˈpo.si.on/^[1]

Forms

σῠμπόσῐον (sumpósion) n (genitive σῠμποσῐ́ου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from συμπότης (sumpótēs, “drinking companion”) with the suffix -ιον (-ion); συμπότης is from συμπίνω (sumpínō, “to drink together”), formed from σύν (sún, “with”) and πίνω (pínō, “to drink”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alcaeus, Theognis and Phocylides use it for a drinking party.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The symposium was a drinking party of male guests after a meal, garlanded and reclining on couches, with prayers, libations, games and entertainment.^[2] Pindar and Herodotus mention it.^[2][3] Conversation was highly prized there, and Plato, Xenophon and Plutarch wrote dialogues called Symposium.^[4][3] The word also meant the party itself, the company.^[3][1]

The Septuagint uses it for a banquet and for a group of guests, and the New Testament for groups of diners.^[5][2] Hesychius defines it as “a place of feasting and drinking”.^[6]

Timeline

• 7th–6th century BC – Alcaeus uses it.^[3]
• 6th century BC – Theognis and Phocylides use it.^[3][4]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus mentions symposia.^[3][2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato and Xenophon write dialogues titled Symposium.^[3]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for groups of diners.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drinking party, a symposium, banquet.^[3][2]
2. The company at a drinking party; a group of diners.^[3][2]

Word family

• συμποσιαρχέω (sumposiarkhéō)
• συμποσίαρχος (sumposíarkhos)
• συμποσιακός (sumposiakós)

Related words

• συμπίνω (sumpínō)
• πίνω (pínō)
• English symposium

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 f g h i j Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)