σύμβολον

Forms

σῠ́μβολον (súmbolon) n (genitive σῠμβόλου); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a noun from Ancient Greek συμβάλλω (sumbállō, “to throw together, to put together, to compare”),^[1][2] built on the o-grade stem ⟨-βολ-⟩ of the verb, as ἔμβολον (émbolon) is built beside ἐμβάλλω (embállō).^[2] The verb itself is σύν (sún, “with, together”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw, to put”).^[1]

The name fits the oldest use: such a token was one of the two halves of a broken object, such as a knucklebone or a coin, which two parties to an agreement each kept, so that the halves could be “put together” to prove who held them.^[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest texts in the GLAUx corpus that have the word are Theognis and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, both dated to the 6th century BC.^[5] Theognis speaks of men who make shameful symbola, compacts sealed by evil deeds, and in the Hymn the word means an omen.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The tally, the half-object that matched its partner, is the sense from which the others grew.^[3][4] Herodotus has it of the tallies by which a deposit was reclaimed, and Euripides' Jason offers Medea tokens to show his friends abroad.^[4] Plato's Aristophanes turns it into an image of love: each human being is the symbolon of a person, half of an original whole looking for its other half.^[3][4]

From the tally the word passed to any token of identity or proof: the tokens by which a mother recognises her child in tragedy, a guarantee or pledge, and the evidence or sign of something.^[3][4] At Athens it named the tickets given to jurors and to citizens attending the Assembly, which were exchanged for their pay.^[4][3] In the plural, symbola were treaties between two cities that settled the commercial and legal disputes of their citizens, and in the papyri the word is a contract or a receipt.^[4][3] It also meant a prearranged signal or password, and a sign of things to come.^[3]

In late Greek the phrase σύμβολον τῆς πίστεως (“symbol of the faith”) named the creed of the Council of Nicaea, a sense that passed into Church Latin as symbolum.^[2] Through Latin the word reached many European languages, among them the French and English symbol.^[2] It survives as Modern Greek σύμβολο (símvolo), a learned word whose main sense, a thing that stands for an idea, was influenced by French symbole.^[6][2] Σύμβολο της Πίστεως is still the Creed.^[6]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – Theognis uses it of a compact, and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes of an omen.^[5][3][7]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Euripides use it of a tally kept as proof of identity.^[4][7]
• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of the token of Athenian jurors and Assembly-goers, and Plato of a person as the half of a whole.^[3][4][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle and the orators use it in the plural of treaties between cities.^[4][3][7]
• 3rd century BC – Papyri use it of contracts and receipts.^[4]
• 6th century AD – An edict of Justinian calls the creed of Nicaea the “symbol of the faith”.^[2]
• Modern Greek – The learned σύμβολο (símvolo) means a symbol, and also the Creed.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tally: each of the two halves of a broken object kept by the parties to an agreement, to prove the holder's identity.^[4][3]
2. (figurative) A counterpart, the matching half of something; in Plato, a person as half of an original whole.^[3][4]
3. Any token of identity or proof; a guarantee, a pledge; a token of goodwill.^[4][3]
4. At Athens, the ticket given to jurors and to those attending the Assembly, exchanged for their pay; an entry pass, an admission ticket.^[4][3]
5. (in the plural) A treaty between two states for settling the disputes of their citizens.^[4][3]
6. A contract or compact; in papyri, a receipt; also a passport.^[4][3]
7. A prearranged signal; a password.^[3]
8. A sign of the future, an omen; a sign, evidence or proof of something.^[3]
9. (Christianity) The creed, in the phrase “symbol of the faith”.^[2]

Word family

• συμβόλαιος (sumbólaios)

Related words

• Latin symbolum
• Modern Greek σύμβολο (símvolo)
• English symbol

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
6. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
7. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge