συμφωνία

Forms

σῠμφωνῐ́ᾱ (sumphōníā) f (genitive σῠμφωνῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σύμφωνος (súmphōnos, “agreeing in sound, harmonious”) + -ία (-íā).^[1][2] The adjective is from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plato, meaning the concord of sounds: in the Symposium he calls harmony a concord, and concord a kind of agreement.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Plato and Aristotle it was a term of music, the concord of notes and especially the consonant intervals such as the fourth, the fifth and the octave, distinguished by Aristotle from mere unison.^[5][3] It also meant the harmonious sound of many voices, and in Aristotle the Pythagorean music of the spheres.^[5] From the start it was used figuratively of harmony and agreement among people and things, and later of agreement between authorities or between a theory and the facts.^[5][3][2]

In the Hellenistic period it named a group of musicians, a band, and, in Polybius and the Greek Daniel, a musical instrument; in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke it means music or a band.^[3][7][8][9] Papyri use it of the amount agreed on in a contract.^[5] From the musical instrument named in Daniel it passed into Aramaic סוּמְפֹּנְיָה (sūmpōnyā), and it was borrowed as Latin symphōnia.^[1][10] Through Latin and Old French it gave English symphony, first (about 1300) the name of various instruments.^[4]

Modern Greek συμφωνία (symfonía) is a learned word: “agreement” continues the ancient sense, an “agreement, accord” between parties follows French accord, and the “symphony” of an orchestra is a loan from symphonie.^[11]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for musical concord and figuratively for agreement.^[5][3][2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of consonant intervals and of the music of the spheres.^[5]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for a band of musicians and for a musical instrument.^[3][7]
• 1st century AD – Luke's Gospel uses it of the music heard at a feast.^[7][9]
• About 1300 – English borrows symphony through Old French and Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – συμφωνία (symfonía) means agreement, an accord, and a symphony.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Concord or unison of sound.^[5][3]
2. (music) A consonant interval such as the fourth, fifth or octave.^[5][3]
3. (figurative) Harmony, agreement among persons or things.^[5][3]
4. A group of musicians, a band; music played together.^[3][7]
5. A musical instrument, perhaps a kind of bagpipe.^[8][7]
6. (papyri) The amount agreed upon.^[5]

Word family

• συμφωνικός (sumphōnikós)

Related words

• σύμφωνος (súmphōnos)
• συμφωνέω (sumphōnéō)
• φωνή (phōnḗ)
• Latin symphōnia
• English symphony

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e 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 Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
9. ^ a b Spicq, Ceslas (1994), Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, tr. James D. Ernest, 3 vols, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki