Etymologically
Log in

symmetria

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [symˈmɛ.tri.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [simˈmɛː.tri.a][1]

Forms

symmetria f (genitive symmetriae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek συμμετρία (summetría, “due proportion”).[2][1] The Greek comes from σύμμετρος (súmmetros, “commensurate”), from συν- (sun-, “together”) and μέτρον (métron, “measure”).[3] The OLD records the spelling summetria.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro, in his Menippean Satires, says the symmetry of a house baffled the architects.[2][4] Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was the relative measurement of the parts of a building or statue, the proportions, mostly in the plural.[2][6] Vitruvius defines it as the agreement of the members of a work among themselves, and Pliny uses it of the proportions of statues by sculptors.[2][7] Lewis & Short compare Latin congruentia.[7]

In medieval British Latin it kept the plural sense of measurements.[8] English symmetry is recorded in the 1560s as “relation of parts, proportion”.[3]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the proportions of a house.[2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius defines it.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of statues.[7][5]
  • 1560s – English symmetry is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (usually plural) The proportions of the parts of a structure.[2][6]
  2. Due proportion, symmetry.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press