σύμπτωμα

Forms

σῠ́μπτωμᾰ (súmptōma) n (genitive σῠμπτώμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek συμπίπτω (sumpíptō, “to fall together, happen”) + -μα (-ma), the suffix of action nouns, on the stem ⟨συμπτω-⟩, the grade of the root that also appears in πτῶμα (ptôma) “a fall”.^[1][2][3] The verb joins σύν (sún, “with, together”) and πίπτω (píptō, “to fall”), which Beekes traces to Proto-Indo-European *petH- (“to fly, fall”).^[3][4] The word therefore meant “what falls together”, a coincidence or something that befalls one.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Thucydides, where it means a mishap or critical turn of events.^[6][2][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 4th century BC Aristotle uses it for a chance occurrence, set beside what happens “by luck”, and Demosthenes and Menander for a mishap or misfortune.^[2][7] Epicurus and later philosophers used it for an accidental property or attribute, distinguished from the essential ones, and geometers for the defining property of a curve.^[2][8] Polybius and Plutarch use it of a calamity.^[7]

Medical writers took it up for the signs of a disease, a symptom, and also for a collapse of strength or of the mind.^[2][8] The Septuagint has it for a chance event and, once, for a sign.^[9] Ancient lexicographers glossed it as “something that happened suddenly”.^[10][11]

It was borrowed into Latin as symptōma.^[1] English symptom came in the late 14th century through Medieval Latin, re-Latinised from the altered form sinthoma.^[5] In Modern Greek σύμπτωμα (sýmptoma) is a learned word, mainly medical, whose modern use was helped by French symptôme and English symptom.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 5th century BC – Thucydides uses it of a mishap in war.^[2][14]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for a chance occurrence, and Demosthenes for an accident one did not intend.^[2][7][14]
• 3rd century BC – Archimedes uses it for a property of a curve.^[2][14]
• 1st century BC – Philodemus uses it of the symptom of a disease.^[2][14]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Soranus and later Galen use it as a regular medical term for a symptom.^[2][14]
• Late 14th century – English borrows it as symptom through Medieval Latin.^[5]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means a symptom, chiefly in medicine.^[12][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anything that happens, a chance occurrence; κατὰ σύμπτωμα or ἀπὸ συμπτώματος, by chance.^[2][7][15]
2. A mishap, mischance; a calamity.^[2][7]
3. (philosophy) An accidental property or attribute.^[2][8]
4. (geometry) A property of a curve.^[2]
5. (medicine) A symptom of a disease.^[2][8]
6. (medicine) A falling in, collapse, of strength or of the mind.^[2][8]
7. (Septuagint) A sign or indication.^[9]

Word family

• συμπτωματικός (sumptōmatikós)

Related words

• συμπίπτω (sumpíptō)
• πτῶμα (ptôma)
• Latin symptōma
• English symptom

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 i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας
4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Malhadas, Daisi; Dezotti, Maria Celeste C.; Neves, Maria Helena de Moura, eds. (2006–2010), Dicionário Grego-Português, São Paulo: Ateliê; digital ed. 3 (2022), UNESP Araraquara
9. ^ a b Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
10. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
11. ^ Photius, Lexicon, ed. Christos Theodoridis, vol. 1 (Α–Δ) (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1982); ed. Richard Porson (Cambridge, 1822)
12. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
14. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
15. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli