Etymologically
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συναγωγή

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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)

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