συνίστημι

Forms

σῠνίστημῐ (sunístēmi) ^[1] Old Attic ξυνίστημι (xunístēmi); later also συνιστάνω (sunistánō) and συνιστάω (sunistáō).^[2][3] Future συστήσω, first aorist συνέστησα (transitive); second aorist συνέστην and perfect συνέστηκα (intransitive).^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σύν (sún, “with, together”) + ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to make stand, to set”).^[1][4] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand, to set”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Iliad has only the perfect participle, of battle that has been joined.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Like the simple verb, it is transitive in the present, future and first aorist, “to set together”, and intransitive in the second aorist, the perfect and the passive, “to stand together”.^[2]

Transitively it meant to combine or unite, as Herodotus says of uniting the Arcadians against Sparta, and then to organize or frame something: Plato speaks of framing a living being or an art, Thucydides of setting up an oligarchy.^[2] It was also used of contriving a death or a war, of composing a plot (Aristotle) and, in geometry, of constructing a triangle (Euclid).^[2] A social sense was to introduce or recommend one person to another, common in Plato and Xenophon and in letters of recommendation on papyrus; from it came the senses of putting someone in another's charge and of appointing.^[2][8]

Intransitively, persons who “stood together” met in battle (Aeschylus, Herodotus) or banded together as allies (Thucydides); things came into existence or held together, and in the perfect a thing “consisted” of its parts; matter became firm or set.^[2] In the New Testament Paul uses it for commending someone and for showing or proving something, and Colossians for holding together.^[9][10][11] The magical papyri use it for uniting the practitioner with a god.^[12] Coptic borrowed the verb by AD 264.^[13]

Modern Greek has the learned συνιστώ (synistó), “to recommend, to advise”, also “to set up, to constitute” after French constituer, and the passive “to consist”.^[14][15]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses the perfect participle of battle that has been joined.^[6][7]
• 6th–5th century BC – Aeschylus uses the middle for meeting an enemy in battle.^[2]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for uniting peoples in an alliance, and Thucydides for setting up an oligarchy.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for framing a living being and for introducing a pupil to a teacher.^[2]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for composing a plot.^[2]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid uses it for constructing a triangle, and papyri use it for recommending persons.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Paul uses it for commending someone and for proving something.^[9][10]
• Modern Greek – The learned συνιστώ (synistó) means “to recommend” and, after French usage, “to constitute”.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To set together, combine; to unite people or cities in an alliance.^[2]
2. (transitive) To put together, organize, frame (a state, a club, an art); in the middle, to set on foot (a war, a siege).^[2]
3. (transitive) To contrive (a death, a war, an attack).^[2]
4. (transitive, geometry) To construct (a triangle on a given line).^[2]
5. (transitive) To compose (a plot, a poem).^[2]
6. (transitive) To introduce or recommend one person to another.^[2][9]
7. (transitive) To put in someone's charge; to appoint to an office.^[2][8]
8. (transitive, New Testament) To show, demonstrate, prove.^[9][10]
9. (intransitive) Of persons, to meet in battle; of allies, to band together.^[2]
10. (intransitive) To come into existence, exist; in the perfect, to consist (of parts).^[2][11]
11. (intransitive) To be compact or firm; of liquids, to set.^[2]
12. (intransitive, New Testament) To hold together.^[11]

Word family

• συσταδόν (sustadón)
• σύστασις (sústasis)
• συστατικός (sustatikós)
• σύστημα (sústēma)

Related words

• ἵστημι (hístēmi)
• σύν (sún)

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
4. ^ Bailly, Anatole (1901), Abrégé du dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
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 Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
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. ^ a b c Abbott-Smith, G. (1922), A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark
11. ^ a b c United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
12. ^ Muñoz Delgado, Luis (2001), Léxico de magia y religión en los papiros mágicos griegos, Madrid: CSIC
13. ^ Database and Dictionary of Greek Loanwords in Coptic (DDGLC), Freie Universität Berlin and Universität Leipzig
14. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
15. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας