ἀναλογία

Forms

ἀνᾰλογίᾱ (analogíā) f (genitive ἀνᾰλογίᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek ἀνάλογος (análogos, “proportional”) with the suffix -ία (-ía).^[1][2] The adjective is formed from ἀνά (aná, “up, according to”) and λόγος (lógos, “ratio, reckoning”).^[3][4] The noun belongs to λέγω (légō), from Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato uses it as a mathematical term for proportion: in the Timaeus proportion is the finest bond, making the things it binds as much one as possible.^[6][4][7]

Semantic evolution

It began as a term of mathematics, the equality of ratios, as Aristotle defines it; he and Euclid distinguish arithmetical, geometrical and harmonic proportion and progression.^[4][6][2] Etymonline notes that Plato gave the mathematical term a wider sense.^[3] Aristotle also used it for proportion in general and for analogy, the comparison of things by corresponding parts, and Philodemus for relation and resemblance.^[4][2]

The grammarians made it a term for regularity in language: Apollonius Dyscolus uses it for grammatical analogy.^[4] In the New Testament, Paul tells the Romans to use the gift of prophecy “in proportion to” their faith.^[8][9] It was borrowed as Latin analogia.^[10][3] It reached English as analogy in the early 15th century, through Old French or directly from Latin.^[3]

Medieval vernacular Greek kept it in the same sense.^[11] The Modern Greek αναλογία (analogía) is a learned word, partly modelled on French analogie and proportion; in linguistics it names the change of forms on the model of other forms.^[12][13]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for mathematical proportion.^[6][4][7]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle defines it as equality of ratios and uses it for analogy.^[4][6]
• 3rd century BC – Euclid defines the smallest proportion as one of three terms.^[6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius speaks of having a notion of proportion.^[6]
• 1st century AD – Paul's Letter to the Romans uses it of gifts in proportion to faith.^[8]
• 2nd century AD – Apollonius Dyscolus uses it for grammatical analogy.^[4]
• Early 15th century – English analogy is first recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) Proportion, the equality of ratios; a progression (arithmetical, geometrical, harmonic).^[4][6][2]
2. Proportion in general, proportionality.^[2][4]
3. Analogy, correspondence between things compared part for part.^[4][2]
4. (grammar) Grammatical analogy, regularity of forms.^[4]
5. Relation, resemblance.^[4]

Related words

• ἀνάλογος (análogos)
• λόγος (lógos)
• Latin analogia
• English analogy

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
9. ^ United Bible Societies (2023), UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament (revised Louw–Nida semantic domains), open-licence ed.
10. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
11. ^ Kriaras, Emmanuel, Επιτομή του Λεξικού της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100–1669, Κέντρο Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, https://www.greek-language.gr
12. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
13. ^ Babiniotis, Georgios (2010), Ετυμολογικό λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας [Etymological Dictionary of Modern Greek], Athens: Κέντρο Λεξικολογίας