Dictionary

syncretism en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈsɪŋkɹəˌtɪzm̩/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin syncretismus, from Ancient Greek συγκρητισμός (sunkrētismós, “federation of Cretan cities”), from συγκρητίζω (sunkrētízō, “to unite against a common enemy”), from σύν (sún, “together”) (see English syn-) + Κρῆτες (Krêtes, “Cretans”). By surface analysis, syn- + Crete + -ism (“Crete joining together”).

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The reconciliation or fusion of different systems or beliefs (religious, cultural, or otherwise cosmologic or ontologic).
   • It provides a more natural explanation of the Colossian syncretism as stemming from local religious impulses that continued to wield a powerful draw on people converted to Christianity from the local Jewish communities and pagan cults.[…]The kind of syncretism we find at Colossae was not unique to that city or region. 1995, Clinton E. Arnold, The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface Between Christianity and Folk Belief at Colossae, J.C.B. Mohr (Paul SieBeck), page 238:
   • Having thus established his trinity of hypotheses, M. Lamennais deduces therefrom, by a badly connected chain of analogies, his whole philosophy. And it is here especially that we notice the syncretism which is peculiar to him. The theory of M. Lamennais embraces all systems, and supports all opinions. 1876 [1840], “Second Memoir”, in Benjamin R. Tucker, transl., What is Property?, translation of Qu'est-ce que la propriété ? by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon:
   • Kraft's functional view of Anthropology eventually leads to syncretism because God is understood as working within a modern, humanistic paradigm. 2006, Gailyn Van Rheenen, “1: Syncretism and Contextualization: The Church on a Journey Defining Itself”, in Gailyn Van Rheenen, editor, Contextualization and Syncretism: Navigating Cultural Currents, Evangelical Missiological Society, page 7:
   • The strategies of religious syncretism—the active transformation through renegotiation, reorganization, and redefinition of clashing belief systems—are consistent with the creolization process. 2010, Marguerite Fernández Olmos, Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, “Creole Religions of the Caribbean”, in Claudio Iván Remeseira, editor, Hispanic New York: A Sourcebook, Columbia University Press, page 222:
2. (countable, uncountable) The fusion of different inflexional forms.
   • In this paper a distinction is assumed between full syncretism, which affects whole morphemes, and partial syncretism, which affects only some case allomorphs, and also between syncretism proper and mere loss of a case morpheme. 1993, Robert Coleman, “Patterns of Syncretism in Indo-European”, in Henk Aertsen, Robert J. Jeffers, editors, Historical Linguistics 1989: Papers from the 9th International Conference, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 111:
   • Romanian conjugation displays several cases of syncretism, in which two paradigmatic slots share the same grammatical desinence.[…]On the other hand, the syncretisms of the imperfect and subjunctive are not phonologically conditioned and, as such, apply to every verb without exception. 2004, Ronald F. Feldstein, “On the Structure of Syncretism in Romanian Conjugation”, in Julie Auger, J. Clancy Clements, Barbara Vance, editors, Contemporary Approaches to Romance Linguistics, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 177:
   • In this chapter, I will investigate whether they deserve this name by looking at syncretisms between clusivity and other person markers. 2005, Michael Cysouw, “Chapter 3: Syncretisms involving clusivity”, in Elena Filimonova, editor, Clusivity: Typology and Case Studies of Inclusive-exclusive Distinction, John Benjamins Publishing Company, page 73:

Forms

Deriveds

syncretistic

Relateds

syncretize · syncretic · eclectic

Synonyms

syncresis

Translations (25)

ru синкрети́зм (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · it sincretismo (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · sv synkretism (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · pl synkretyzm (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · de Synkretismus (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · tr senkretizm (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · cmn 綜攝 /综摄 (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · es sincretismo (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · cmn 折衷論 /折衷论 (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · pl synkretyzm (fusion of different inflexional forms) · tr senkretizm (fusion of different inflexional forms) · el συγκρητισμός (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · kk синкретизм (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · ca sincretisme (fusion of different inflexional forms) · el συγκρητισμός (fusion of different inflexional forms) · fi synkretismi (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · cmn 類併 /类并 (fusion of different inflexional forms) · de Synkretismus (fusion of different inflexional forms) · tr ikili çatı (fusion of different inflexional forms) · fi synkretismi (fusion of different inflexional forms) · fr syncrétisme (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · cs synkretismus (fusion of different systems or beliefs) · cmn 融合 (fusion of different inflexional forms) · kk синкретизм (fusion of different inflexional forms) · ca sincretisme (fusion of different systems or beliefs)