Etymologically
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συμπόσιον

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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)
  • 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)