symmetria Latin · revision 4274
15 Oct 2026, 21:27 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Varro|origins=grc συμμετρία}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [symˈmɛ.tri.a]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [simˈmɛː.tri.a]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''symmetria''' ''f'' (genitive symmetriae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|συμμετρία|tr=summetría|t=due proportion]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The Greek comes from [[m|grc|σύμμετρος|tr=súmmetros|t=commensurate]], from [[m|grc|συν-|tr=sun-|t=together]] and [[m|grc|μέτρον|tr=métron|t=measure]].^(Etymonline) The OLD records the spelling [[m|la|summetria]].^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Varro, in his Menippean Satires, says the symmetry of a house baffled the architects.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Köbler dates Varro 116–27 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was the relative measurement of the parts of a building or statue, the proportions, mostly in the plural.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) 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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short compare Latin [[congruentia]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ In medieval British Latin it kept the plural sense of measurements.^(DMLBS) English ''symmetry'' is recorded in the 1560s as “relation of parts, proportion”.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of the proportions of a house.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius defines it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of statues.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1560s – English ''symmetry'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(usually plural)'' The proportions of the parts of a structure.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # Due proportion, [[m|en|symmetry]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|symmetry]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}