synedrus

Latin

FWOTD – 5 June 2016

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek σῠ́νεδρος (súnedros, “one who sits with others”, “assessor”, “coadjutor”; “delegate to the assembly”), from σῠ́ν (sún, “beside”, “with”) +‎ ἕδρᾱ (hédrā, “sitting”, “session [of a council]”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈsy.ne.drus/, [ˈs̠ʏnɛd̪rʊs̠]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.ne.drus/, [ˈsiːned̪rus]
(Classical Latin, Poetic) IPA^(key): /syˈned.rus/, [s̠ʏˈnɛd̪rʊs̠]

Noun

synedrus m (genitive synedrī); second declension

(among the Macedonians) a counsellor, senator (equivalent to a Roman senātor)
- circa 20 BC, Titus Livius Patavinus (author), W. Weissenborn (editor), Ab Urbe Condita Libri (1881), book XLV, chapter xxxii, §§ 1–2 (pages 86–87):
  [H]is rerum externarum cognitionibus interpositis Macedonum rursus advocatum concilium; pronuntiatum, quod ad statum Macedoniae pertinebat, senatores, quos synedros vocant, legendos esse, quorum consilio res publica administraretur.
  The congress of the Macedonians which had been interrupted by these proceedings was again convened. First of all the status of Macedonia was defined. Senators, who were known as “synedri,” were to be elected to form a council for the administration of government. ― translation by the Rev. Canon Roberts (1912)

Usage notes

In ordinary Classical Latin pronunciation, when the cluster dr occurs intervocalically at a syllabic boundary (denoted in pronunciatory transcriptions by ⟨.⟩), both consonants are considered to belong to the latter syllable; if the former syllable contains only a short vowel (and not a long vowel or a diphthong), then it is a light syllable. Where the two syllables under consideration are a word's penult and antepenult, this has a bearing on stress, because a word whose penult is a heavy syllable is stressed on that syllable, whereas one whose penult is a light syllable is stressed on the antepenult instead. In poetic usage, where syllabic weight and stress are important for metrical reasons, writers sometimes regard the d in such a sequence as belonging to the former syllable; in this case, doing so alters the word's stress. For more words whose stress can be varied poetically, see their category.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	synedrus	synedrī
genitive	synedrī	synedrōrum
dative	synedrō	synedrīs
accusative	synedrum	synedrōs
ablative	synedrō	synedrīs
vocative	synedre	synedrī

References

“synĕdrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“synedrus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
synedrus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
synedrus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.