συνώνυμον

Forms

σῠνώνῠμον (sunṓnumon) n (genitive σῠνωνῠ́μου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter, used as a noun, from Ancient Greek συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos) “having the same name”.^[1][2] The adjective is formed from συν- (sun-) and ὄνυμα (ónuma), the Aeolic and Doric form of ὄνομα (ónoma) “name”, with the initial vowel lengthened in the compound.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristotle is the first to use τὰ συνώνυμα as a term: in his logic they are things that share a name and a definition, and in the Rhetoric they are words of the same meaning, such as the two verbs for “to go”, πορεύεσθαι and βαδίζειν.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The adjective first meant “having the same name as” someone or something, as in Euripides and Antiphanes.^[5][7] Aristotle made it a philosophical term: in the Categories “synonymous” things have the same name and the same definition, as man and ox are both “animals”, as opposed to homonymous things.^[5][3] In rhetoric and grammar the neuter came to mean a word with the same sense as another, which the grammarians also called “polyonyms”.^[5][6] The lexicon of Zonaras defines it as what means the same thing under different names, with words for “sword” as the example.^[8]

Late Latin borrowed it as synonymum, the source of English synonym (early 15th century).^[1][4] In Modern Greek συνώνυμο (synónymo) is a learned word for a synonym.^[2]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Euripides uses the adjective of a land with the same name as another.^[7][9]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses τὰ συνώνυμα of things with one name and one definition, and of words with the same meaning.^[5][3][9]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses the adjective of a river with the same name as a city.^[5][9]
• 13th century – The lexicon of Zonaras defines it as one meaning under several names.^[8]
• Early 15th century – English borrows it through Old French and Late Latin as synonym.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar, rhetoric) A synonym, a word with the same meaning as another.^[5][1]
2. (logic, Aristotle; usually plural) Something that shares both its name and its definition with another.^[5]

Related words

• συνώνυμος (sunṓnumos)
• συνωνυμία (sunōnumíā)
• ὁμώνυμος (homṓnumos)
• ὄνομα (ónoma)
• Latin synonymum
• English synonym

Usage notes

Ancient grammarians gave the same name, or “polyonyms”, to words of one meaning, and the sophist Prodicus was known for drawing distinctions between apparent synonyms.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
3. ^ a b c d Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth, eds. (2002–2010), Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon, ed. Johann August Heinrich Tittmann (1808), Iohannis Zonarae Lexicon, Leipzig: Crusius
9. ^ a b c Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge