ἀσυμμετρία

Forms

ᾰ̓σῠμμετρῐ́ᾱ (asummetríā) f (genitive ᾰ̓σῠμμετρῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek ἀσύμμετρος (asúmmetros, “incommensurable, disproportionate”) + -ία (-íā).^[2][3][4] The adjective is ἀ- (a-, “not”) and σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “commensurable”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plato's Gorgias is the first text with the word: there a soul is seen full of disproportion and ugliness.^[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

Aristotle used it in mathematics for the incommensurability of magnitudes, opposed to συμμετρία (summetríā).^[6][2] Theophrastus speaks of diseases that come from a wrong proportion of food, and Polybius of scaling ladders of the wrong size for the walls.^[6][2] Ptolemy used it for a discrepancy, in the title of a chapter on the errors in Marinus's geographical table.^[6]

Modern Greek ασυμμετρία (asimetría) is the ancient word revived, meaning lack of symmetry or disproportion.^[8] English asymmetry, from the 1650s, comes from the Greek word.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it of disproportion in a soul.^[2][6]
• 4th century BC – Aristotle uses it for incommensurability.^[6][2]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it of a wrong proportion of food as a cause of disease.^[6]
• 2nd century BC – Polybius uses it of ladders too short or too long for the walls.^[2][6]
• 2nd century AD – Ptolemy uses it for a discrepancy in a geographical table.^[6]
• 1650s – English borrows asymmetry.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mathematics) Incommensurability.^[2][6][3]
2. Lack of proportion or harmony, disproportion; wrong size.^[2][6][4]
3. A discrepancy.^[6]

Related words

• συμμετρία (summetríā)
• σύμμετρος (súmmetros)
• English asymmetry

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
3. ^ a b Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
4. ^ a b Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1889), An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki