συνεκδοχή

Forms

σῠνεκδοχή (sunekdokhḗ) f (genitive σῠνεκδοχῆς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek συνεκδέχομαι (sunekdékhomai), “to take on a share of; to understand a word along with another”, with the suffix -ή, and can also be analysed as from Ancient Greek συν- (sun-) + ἐκδοχή (ekdokhḗ).^[1][2][3][4] The verb is made of σύν (sún), ἐκ (ek) and δέχομαι (dékhomai) “to receive”.^[5][6][7] So its literal meaning is “a receiving together”, that is, understanding one thing with another.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest text with the word in the GLAUx corpus is the treatise On Tropes ascribed to the grammarian Tryphon (1st century BC), where it already names a figure of speech.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Greek grammarians and rhetoricians used the word for the trope in which a word is taken in a wider or narrower sense than its own: the whole for the part or the part for the whole, or a singular for a plural, such as “the Syracusans” for the Syracusan army.^[4][2][10] Hesychius glosses it simply as taking something from a part.^[11] It appears in the Life of Homer ascribed to Plutarch, in Clement of Alexandria and in the music theorist Aristides Quintilianus.^[4][2]

Latin took it over as Latin synecdochē, and Quintilian discusses it under its Greek name.^[12][4][8] English synecdoche (late 15th century) is a correction of the earlier synodoches (late 14th century), from a Medieval Latin alteration of the Late Latin word.^[6] Modern Greek keeps συνεκδοχή (synekdochí) as a learned grammatical term, and the adjective συνεκδοχικός (sunekdokhikós) goes back to Hellenistic Greek.^[13][7][4]

Timeline

• 1st century BC – The treatise On Tropes ascribed to Tryphon uses it for the figure of speech.^[9]
• 1st century AD – Quintilian discusses the figure under its Greek name.^[4][8][14]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Clement of Alexandria uses the term in his Stromata.^[2][9][14]
• 5th century AD (probably) – Hesychius glosses it as taking something from a part.^[11][14]
• Late 15th century – English synecdoche replaces the earlier synodoches.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Understanding one thing together with another.^[4][8][1]
2. (rhetoric) Synecdoche: using the whole for a part or a part for the whole, or a singular for a plural.^{[4][2][10][11]}

Word family

• συνεκδοχικός (sunekdokhikós)

Related words

• συνεκδέχομαι (sunekdékhomai)
• ἐκδοχή (ekdokhḗ)
• ἐκδέχομαι (ekdékhomai)
• δέχομαι (dékhomai)
• Latin synecdoche
• English synecdoche

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, online ed., https://www.koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
8. ^ a b c d Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
10. ^ a b Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
11. ^ a b c Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
12. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
13. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge