συναγωγή

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sy.na.ɡɔː.ɡɛ̌ː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /sy.na.ɣoˈʝi/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /sy.na.ɣoˈʝi/^[1]

Forms

σῠνᾰγωγή (sunagōgḗ) f (genitive σῠνᾰγωγῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from συνάγω (sunágō, “to bring together”) with the suffix -ή (-ḗ); the verb is formed from σύν (sún, “with, together”) and ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thucydides uses it for the bringing about of a war.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a bringing together: Plato uses it for the union of man and woman and for collection as opposed to division in dialectic, Aristotle for combining and for a collection of documents, Polybius for the gathering of troops, supplies, taxes and the harvest, and Isocrates for the knitting of the brow.^[3][4]

The Septuagint uses it for a collection or a harvest, the place where the waters were gathered at creation, and above all the assembly or congregation of Israel; an inscription from Egypt of the 2nd century BC uses it for an assembly.^[5][4] In the New Testament it is the Jewish place of assembly, the synagogue.^[3][6] Modern Greek συναγωγή (synagogí) is a learned word for a gathering and for drawing a conclusion, and, as a separate word, the synagogue.^[7]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it for bringing about a war.^[3]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for collection in dialectic.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for gathering troops and supplies.^[3]
• 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for the congregation of Israel.^[5]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses it for the synagogue.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bringing together, assembling; uniting.^[3][4]
2. A collection, gathering, as of supplies or the harvest.^[3][5]
3. An assembly, congregation.^[5][4]
4. (New Testament) A synagogue, a Jewish place of assembly.^[3][6]
5. A concentration of troops; a knitting of the brow.^[3]

Word family

• ἀρχισυνάγωγος (arkhisunágōgos)

Related words

• συνάγω (sunágō)
• ἄγω (ágō)
• English synagogue

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki