(συμ)φοιτητής, (συμ)μαθητής, συσχολαστής
(Phryn. PS 111.6, Phryn. Ecl. 379, Poll. 4.45, Antiatt. φ 11, Phryn. PS 124.7–8, Moer. φ 36, [Hdn.] Philet. 313)

D. General commentary

Several entries in Atticist lexica address the correct term for ‘fellow student’, at times extending the discussion to the simple forms meaning ‘pupil, student, learner’. The Praeparatio sophistica (A.1), the Eclogue (A.2) – later followed by Thomas Magister (B.5) – Pollux (A.3), and the Antiatticist (A.4) all identify συμφοιτητής as the appropriate Attic term, contrasting it with the common συμμαθητής ‘fellow learner’ (A.1, A.3), the rarer συσχολαστής, or even to the simplex φοιτητής (A.4). The latter is itself identified as a good Attic word in the Praeparatio sophistica (A.5), Moeris (A.6), and the Philetaerus (A.7), always in opposition to μαθητής ‘learner’. The focus of all these entries is correct Attic vocabulary rather than word formation: the occurrence of the prefix συν- in these words vis-à-vis their simplicia is never at issue (cf., by contrast, the case of πολίτης and πατριώτης and their synonyms formed with the prefix συν-, analysed in the entry πολίτης, συμπολίτης, πατριώτης, συμπατριώτης). In the following commentary, we examine each pair in order to highlight the motivations underlying the Atticists’ preference and their legacy in Byzantine lexicography.

The form prescribed by Phrynichus in the Praeparatio sophistica (A.1) and in the Eclogue (A.2), συμφοιτητής, is first attested in Plato (C.1 and Phdr. 255a.4) and Xenophon (HG 2.4.20, as part of a series of συν- compounds: καὶ συγχορευταὶ καὶ συμφοιτηταὶ γεγενήμεθα καὶ συστρατιῶται, ‘and we have been companions in the dance, and at school, and in the army’). Orus (B.1), by contrast, credits Solon with the first use of συμφοιτητής (a claim not recorded in LSJ s.v.); while he approves of this form, he condemns another συν- formation, συμφιλόλογοςσυμφιλόλογος. Since the latter term is a hapaxHapax, it is not possible to investigate further the reasons for Orus’ disapproval. His characterisation of the word as ‘Egyptian’ may suggest that it had a post-classical origin and was associated with the language of writers connected with Alexandria, in keeping with the Atticists’ use of ‘Alexandrian’Alexandrians as a disparaging label for usages that in fact have no genuine Egyptian origin (see Favi, Tribulato 2024; Favi 2025; and entries ἐλέγοσαν, ἐγράφοσαν, ἐσχάζοσαν; ἐξαλλάσσω, ἐξάλλαγμα; ἤμελλον, ἠβουλόμην, ἠδυνάμην).

That Plato is the likely model behind Phrynichus’ preference for συμφοιτητής is suggested by the parallel passage in Pollux (A.3), who explicitly mentions the Attic philosopher. Though not very common, συμφοιτητής continues to be used mostly by high-register authors, including Galen (De libris propr. 3.5, 141.4 Boudon-Millot = 19.17.6 Kühn), Aristides (e.g. 28.131 Keil = 49.534.16 Dindorf and several other loci, especially in the Sacred Tales, where it takes the specific meaning ‘fellow pilgrim’, cf. LSJ s.v. συμφοιτητής, II), and Libanius (Ep. 43.1.4). However, συμφοιτητής is by no means confined to this type of text, but also occurs in koine prose (see e.g. Charito 4.3.1; the hagiography Vita et passio sancti Dometii Persae 5.15, etc.).

With the exception of the Antiatticist (A.4, on which see below), all the other erudite sources treat συμφοιτητής in relation to other συν- formations. The Eclogue (A.2), followed by Thomas Magister (B.5), is the only Atticist lexicon in which συμφοιτητής is preferred to συσχολαστής, a term proscribed by Phrynichus as ‘utterly non-Attic’. This is unsurprising, given that συσχολαστής first occurs in post-classical texts (on its relationship with σχολή in the sense ‘school’, see Lobeck 1820, 401). Besides Philodemus, C.3, the term is also used by Str. 13.1.67 (Ζήνωνος τοῦ Κιτιέως συσχολαστὴς παρὰ Πολέμωνι, ‘[Arcesilaus was] a fellow student of Zeno of Citium under Polemon’) and [D.H.] Rhet. 9.11.65–6 (τοῖς δὲ ὡς συναγωνισταῖς καὶ συσχολασταῖς χαριζόμενος, ‘[he converses] with these people, indulging them as fellow fighters and fellow students’). The verb συσχολάζω first occurs in Posidipp. fr. 104.4 Austin–Bastianini and is slightly more common than the corresponding agent noun συσχολαστής (Plutarch, for instance, uses the verb several times, e.g. in Dem. 5.7.3). συσχολαστής nevertheless remains a relatively rare word, with limited attestations in Post-classical and Byzantine Greek. The Atticist dislike of this word no doubt depends on its lack of attestation in classical texts. Moreover, an issue of semantic evolution may lie in the background. The simplex σχολάζω, a classical verb (Ar. Lys. 412, Thuc. 4.4.1, etc.), originally means ‘to have leisure; to devote oneself to something’. It is only in Post-classical Greek – again beginning with philosophicalPhilosophical language and technicalTechnical language prose – that it acquires the meaning ‘to devote oneself to learning with someone’, i.e. ‘to become his pupil’ (usually + dat., as in e.g. Phld. Acad.Hist., P.Herc. 1021 (= TM 62441) [1st half of the 1st century BCE] col. 24.9 Dorandi: Καρνέαδει […] ἐσχόλασεν), or, when used absolutely, ‘to teach’ (Apoll.Perg. Con. 1, prologue 11, etc.). Words derived from σχολάζω in this post-classical sense may therefore have been felt to be less acceptable than their classical counterparts. As for συσχολαστής in particular, its markedly post-classical character may have stood out all the more, given that the simplex σχολαστής – attested since the Septuagint (Ex. 5.17.2) – preserves the original meaning of σχολάζω (‘to have leisure’ > σχολαστής ‘one who lives leisurely’) and is never used to denote a pupil.

Apart from the Eclogue (A.2), various other sources address συμφοιτητής as a synonymSynonyms of συμμαθητής. The Praeparatio sophistica (A.1) presents συμφοιτητής as preferable to συμμαθητής: here οἱ ἀκριβεῖς likely denotes both those who use language accurately and their Attic literary models. Indeed, while συμμαθητής itself also occurs in the same passage of Plato’s Euthydemus where συμφοιτητής is first attested (C.1), its Attic pedigree is limited to this Platonic occurrence and one in the New Comedy playwright Anaxippus (fr. 1.2). συμμαθητής is subsequently found in a variety of texts, ranging from Galen (De comp. med. sec. loc. 12.835.6 Kühn) and Athenaeus (7.308a, in reference to no lesser a figure than Ulpianus) to lower-register texts such as NT Ev.Io. 11.16.2 (εἶπεν οὖν Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος τοῖς συμμαθηταῖς, ‘So Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples […]’). This last occurrence – the only one in the New Testament – is subsequently quoted in a large number of late antique and Byzantine texts. In Pollux (A.3), as well as in Orus (B.1), συμφοιτητής and συμμαθητής are instead presented as synonyms, without any overt preference for the former.

This synonymic interest extends to the simplicia φοιτητής and μαθητής. The latter is used as a gloss of φοιτητής by Hesychius (B.2, an entry depending on Cyril’s lexicon and paralleled in Byzantine lexicography: see B.3 with the parallel texts quoted in the apparatus), while Thomas Magister (B.6) ranks φοιτητής, together with ὁμιλητής and πεπλησιακώς, among the terms to be preferred to μαθητής, thus partly echoing Moeris (A.6). This preference for φοιτητής over μαθητής is due to two factors. First, the former – first attested in Plato (see C.2 and Euthd. 295d.7, Lg. 779d.4) – has a more limited diffusion than μαθητής. Already a classical term (see Hdt. 4.77.4; Ar. Nu. 140; Isoc. 13.5.4, etc.; Pl. Euthd. 273a.2, etc.), μαθητής remains the standard word for ‘learner’ and ‘pupil’ throughout the history of Ancient and Byzantine Greek, with more than 26,000 occurrences in the TLG corpus (its semantic development is traced by Wilkins 1988, who then focuses on the Biblical sense of ‘disciple’ – a specialisation of a technical use already attested in Classical Greek, where it may denote an ‘adherent’ to a custom or school of thought: see Wilkins 1988, 11–32 on classical Attic authors). By contrast, φοιτητής (in both the meanings ‘pupil’ and ‘acquaintance’) has fewer than 1,000 attestations in the TLG corpus. Another factor may have been the specialisation of μαθητής in Christian Greek to denote a disciple of Christ and, more broadly, a Christian tout court (see Lampe s.v. μαθητής, 2.b), a sense that φοιτητής may also occasionally bear (see Lampe s.v. φοιτητής), but much less prominently. In light of this, φοιτητής was likely perceived as a more marked word, and thus preferable from an Atticist standpoint.

The Antiatticist (A.4) is the only source to report that stricter Atticists rejected the simplex φοιτητής in favour of συμφοιτητής. This information is puzzling, for, as we have seen, φοιτητής is first attested in Plato, just like συμφοιτητής. Moreover, other Atticist lexica present φοιτητής as an acceptable word: in the Praeparatio sophistica (A.5), Phrynichus further restricts its proper sphere of application to the earliest stages of education (grammar and music), while Moeris (A.6) explicitly ascribes φοιτητής to Attic. As noted above, συμφοιτητής is not one of those prefixed formations that have the same meaning as their simplex and could therefore be felt to be redundant (see, for example, the case of πολίτης and συμπολίτης, discussed in the entry πολίτης, συμπολίτης, πατριώτης, συμπατριώτης): φοιτητής denotes a pupil in general, whereas συμφοιτητής denotes someone’s fellow pupil, i.e. it expresses a reciprocal relationship.

E. Byzantine and Modern Greek commentary

As noted in D., μαθητής is widely used in Byzantine texts of all registers. συμμαθητής is equally well attested, denoting both a fellow pupil and a fellow disciple in the Christian faith, as, for instance, in Anastasius I Sermones 1, MPG 89.1372.16–8: καὶ φωνὴ παρῆν ἐκ τῆς νεφέλης διορθουμένη τὸν Πέτρον· ἴσως καὶ τοὺς συμμαθητὰς τὰ αὐτὰ θέλοντας αὐτῷ, καὶ λέγοντας ἐν τῷ ὄρει μένειν (‘And there was a voice from the cloud correcting Peter; and perhaps also the fellow disciples, who wanted the same things as he and were saying that they should remain on the mountain’). φοιτητής and συμφοιτητής do not normally bear this latter sense (‘disciple of Christ’) and mostly occur in texts of a higher registerRegister, being generally absent from works such as anonymous hagiographies and chronicles – a fact that confirms Thomas Magister’s recommendation of both words (see B.5, B.6) for a polished style.

μαθητής and φοιτητής continue to be used in Modern Greek for ‘learner’, albeit with a distinction: while μαθητής denotes a school pupil (at any level), as well as a disciple, φοιτητής – according to the LKN s.v., a modern borrowing from Ancient Greek used to render French étudiant – is reserved for university students. Similarly, συμμαθητής denotes a schoolmate, while συμφοιτητής denotes a fellow university student.

F. Commentary on individual texts and occurrences

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