συνεργία

Forms

σῠνεργίᾱ (sunergíā) f (genitive σῠνεργίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed with the suffix -ία (-íā) from Ancient Greek συνεργός (sunergós, “working together, helping”).^[1][2] The adjective is a compound of σύν (sún) “with” and ἔργον (érgon) “work”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 4th-century BC orators: Demosthenes and Dinarchus use it in a bad sense, of collusion or a conspiracy.^[3][4][5] Aristotle uses it for cooperation.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word had two sides from the start: neutral cooperation or help (Aristotle, Polybius, Philodemus) and, in the law courts, collusion in wrongdoing (Demosthenes, Dinarchus).^[3][4] A variant spelling συνέργεια appears in a papyrus of the 2nd century BC and in Galen.^[3]

In Christian Greek it was used of joint effort in good deeds, as by Athanasius, and in the phrase “by the devil's help”.^[2] Modern Greek has συνέργεια (synérgeia) or συνεργία, a learned word for complicity in a crime and, in the sciences, for the combined action of several factors.^[6][2]

English synergy (1650s, first in a theological sense) comes from it through Modern Latin synergia.^[7]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Dinarchus use it of collusion, and Aristotle of cooperation.^[3][5][8]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it for cooperation, and a papyrus has the spelling συνέργεια.^[3][8]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus speaks of cooperation in life and in war.^[3][8]
• 4th century AD – Athanasius uses it of joint effort in good works.^[2]
• 1650s – English borrows it through Modern Latin as synergy.^[7]
• Modern Greek – The learned συνέργεια (synérgeia) means complicity in a crime and, in science, combined action.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Cooperation, joint work, assistance.^[3][4]
2. Collusion, conspiracy.^[3][4]

Related words

• συνεργός (sunergós)
• συνεργέω (sunergéō)
• ἔργον (érgon)
• English synergy

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge