ἀνάλογος

Forms

ᾰ̓νᾰ́λογος (análogos) m or f (neuter ᾰ̓νᾰ́λογον); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up to, according to”) + λόγος (lógos, “ratio, proportion”), literally “according to a due ratio”.^[1][2][3] LSJ points out that the neuter ⟨ἀνάλογον⟩ is simply the phrase ἀνὰ λόγον (anà lógon) written together, and Plato writes it apart in the Timaeus.^[3] Babiniotis compares the similarly formed παράλογος (parálogos) and ὁμόλογος (homólogos).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plato, who in the Timaeus pairs it with σύμμετρος (súmmetros) for things that are “proportionate”, and in the Republic calls the sun the offspring that the Good begot “analogous” to itself.^[4][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle made the neuter a technical word: used as an adverb or a predicate it means “in proportion”, and in the Poetics and the Rhetoric it names the metaphor “by analogy”, which turns on a relation between two pairs of terms.^[3][4] In mathematics Euclid calls magnitudes that have the same ratio “proportional”, and Archimedes uses it in the same way.^[4] The regular adverb ἀναλόγως (analógōs) is found in the Hippocratic letters, in Sextus Empiricus and in the Book of Wisdom, where it means “by analogy”.^[3][4] Papyri of the 1st century BC use the substantive for a “proportion”, for instance of a tax.^[4] Later writers widened the sense to “resembling, equivalent” (Philodemus) and “well-proportioned, suitable” (Philostratus, in the superlative).^[3][4]

Latin took it over as analogus.^[5][6] Medieval vernacular Greek used it for what is fitting or symmetrical, with the phrase “as is fitting” built on the neuter.^[7] In Modern Greek ανάλογος (análogos) is a learned word, whose senses were shaped by French analogue and proportionnel.^[8] The English word analogue comes from the same Latin word through French.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for proportionate things in the Timaeus and for the sun as analogous to the Good in the Republic.^[3][4]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses the neuter adverbially for “in proportion” and speaks of metaphors “by analogy”.^[3][4]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid defines magnitudes with the same ratio as proportional.^[4]
• 1st century BC – Papyri use the substantive for a proportion of a tax, and Philodemus uses the adjective for “resembling”.^[4][3]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Philostratus uses the superlative of a well-proportioned shape.^[3][4]
• 1100–1669 – Vernacular texts use it for what is fitting or well-proportioned.^[7]
• 1826 – The English word analogue is first recorded, borrowed from French.^[6]
• Modern Greek – The learned ανάλογος (análogos) means “proportional” or “corresponding”.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Proportionate, in due proportion, conformable.^[3][4]
2. (mathematics) Proportional, in proportion; the neuter is often used as an adverb or a predicate.^[3][4]
3. Corresponding to, analogous; resembling, equivalent.^[4][3]
4. Well-proportioned, suitable.^[3][4]

Word family

• ἀναλογία (analogíā)
• ἀναλόγως (analógōs)

Related words

• λόγος (lógos)
• Latin analogus
• English analogue

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
8. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki