syncope

Forms

syncopē f (genitive syncopēs), also syncopa (genitive syncopae); first declension^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek συγκοπή (synkopḗ, “a cutting up, cutting short”),^[1][2][4] from συγκόπτω (synkóptō, “to cut up”), a compound of σύν (sún, “together”) and κόπτω (kóptō, “to cut”).^[5][4] Etymonline traces the Greek verb perhaps to Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to beat, strike”), noting that Beekes leaves open an origin in the Pre-Greek or European substrate.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in the Latin grammarians: Charisius and Diomedes use it for the loss of a letter or syllable in the middle of a word.^[1][3][2] Köbler dates Diomedes to the second half of the 4th century AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the grammatical figure, which Macrobius uses in the phrase per syncopam “by syncope”,^[3][2] Vegetius used the word in his veterinary work for a fainting fit or swoon.^[1][3][4] Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the sense “faint, swoon”.^[6]

In medieval Latin it meant a cutting out or omission in general, the shortening of a word, a breaking off in the middle of a sound or word, and an abbreviation;^[7] Du Cange explains it as a failure of the heart, citing a deadly illness “called syncope”.^[8] English took it first in the medical sense, as Middle English sincopis about 1400, and in the grammatical sense in the 1520s.^[5]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 4th century AD – Diomedes uses it for the omission of a sound in the middle of a word.^[3][2][4]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it for a fainting fit.^[1][4]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius writes per syncopam.^[3][2][4]
• c. 1400 – Middle English borrows it as sincopis “fainting”.^[5]
• 1520s – English uses syncope for the contraction of a word.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) The omission of a letter or syllable in the middle of a word, syncope.^[1][3][2]
2. (medicine) A fainting fit, swoon.^[1][3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A cutting out, omission; an abbreviation.^[7]

Related words

• English syncope

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b 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
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre