σύστημα

Forms

σύστημᾰ (sústēma) n (genitive συστήμᾰτος); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek συνίστημι (sunístēmi, “to place together, unite”) + -μα (-ma), a noun of result: “something put together”.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 5th–4th century BC, in Plato and the Hippocratic Epidemics.^[3] In Plato it means a whole made of several parts, and also the ordered set of notes and intervals in music.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle and the Stoics used it of any organised whole: the structure of a body, the plot of an epic, and an art as a body of knowledge.^[4][2] In politics it meant a constitution or form of government, in Plato and Aristotle, and in Polybius a confederacy of cities, such as the Achaean League, and a college of priests; inscriptions use it of a guild or a committee.^[4][2] Polybius also uses it of a body of troops, and Plutarch of the Roman Senate and of a group of houses forming a city.^[2][4]

Late Latin borrowed it as Latin systema, from which come French système and English system.^[5] Modern Greek σύστημα (sýstima) is a learned word: it continues the ancient senses “organised whole” and “political organisation”, and the Hellenistic “philosophical system, body of troops, machine”, and took further senses from French and English.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of a composite whole, a musical scale and a form of government.^[4][2][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it of the plot of an epic poem.^[4][6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of the Achaean confederacy and of bodies of mercenaries and cavalry.^[4][2][6]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it of the Roman Senate.^[2][6]
• Modern Greek – The learned σύστημα (sýstima) takes new senses from French and English.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A whole made up of several parts, an organised structure; a system.^[4][2]
2. (music) A scale, an ordered set of notes and intervals.^[2]
3. (literature) A composition, the plot of a poem.^[4][2]
4. A constitution or form of government; a confederacy of cities; a college or guild.^[4][2]
5. (military) A body of troops, a corps.^[4][2]
6. A body of people; a herd.^[2]

Word family

• συστηματικός (sustēmatikós)

Related words

• συνίστημι (sunístēmi)
• σύστασις (sústasis)
• Latin systema

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 Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
6. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge