συντίθημι

Forms

συντίθημῐ (suntíthēmi) ^[1] Attic also ξυντίθημι.^[2] Homer has only the middle, as in the imperative σύνθεο “mark my words”.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek συν- (sun-, “together”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put, place”).^[1][4] Modern Greek συνθέτω (synthéto) is a remodelling of it after medieval θέτω (théto), from τίθημι (títhēmi).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses only the middle, in the sense of putting something together in one's mind: to hear or mark a sound, and to heed someone's words, σύνθεο “mark this”.^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

In Classical prose the active means to put things together: Herodotus uses it for laying ships side by side to make a bridge, Thucydides for setting stones in a wall.^[2][7] From there it means to compose a whole: in Plato's Timaeus the creator is ὁ συνθείς, and syllables are put together into names, and above all literary composition, of speeches, stories and poems.^[2][7] In a bad sense it is to make up a false story or a plot; in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus ὁ συνθεὶς τάδε is “the one who contrived this”.^[2][7] It also became a technical term: adding numbers, combining terms in logic, and the synthesis of a geometrical problem, opposed to ἀναλύω (analúō).^[2]

The middle means to agree on something with someone, to make a compact or covenant; in the New Testament it is used for agreeing to pay money and for a group's reaching a decision.^[7][8][9] Its nouns σύνθεσις (súnthesis) and σύνθετος (súnthetos) carry the same senses, and Modern Greek συνθέτω (synthéto) means “to compose”.^[5][6]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use the middle for marking and heeding words.^[3][10]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus uses it for putting ships together as a bridge, and for adding numbers.^[2][7]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles uses it for contriving a plot.^[2]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for composing stories and poems and for the creator of the world.^[2][7]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes uses it for the synthesis of a problem in geometry.^[2][11]
• 1st century AD – The New Testament uses the middle for agreeing together.^[8]
• Modern Greek – συνθέτω (synthéto), remodelled after θέτω (théto), means “to compose”.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put or place together; to fold (clothes).^[2][7]
2. To build or construct from parts: ships into a bridge, stones into a wall.^[2][7]
3. To make or create something from parts; to compose (words, a speech, a poem, a history).^[2][7]
4. To make up or concoct a story or charge; to contrive a plot.^[2][7]
5. (mathematics) To add together; in geometry, to work out the synthesis of a problem.^[2]
6. (logic) To combine the terms of a proposition.^[2]
7. To take together, sum up, put briefly.^[2][7]
8. (middle, Homeric) To heed, mark, hear.^[3][7]
9. (middle) To agree on, arrange; to make a covenant or compact.^[7][8]
10. (papyri) To hand over into someone's keeping.^[2]

Word family

• σύνθεσις (súnthesis)
• σύνθετος (súnthetos)
• συνθήκη (sunthḗkē)

Related words

• τίθημι (títhēmi)

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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
4. ^ Βικιλεξικό, the Greek Wiktionary, https://el.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
6. ^ a b c Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ 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
9. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
11. ^ Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge