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I reread this old question about "touché", and I realized I'm not sure how to conjugate the suggested verb synchōrō. It was borrowed from συγχωρέω. Although I'm interested in this special case too, I would like to ask about a more general problem.

Greek verbs ending in can have a consonant, an alpha, an epsilon, or an omicron before the omega. (And there are exceptions, at least ἀκούω.) The last three classes can be contracted to lose the vowel, but with an effect on the endings. How are these verbs borrowed to Latin?

My guess is that they all follow the first conjugation (in the contracted form). But it would also make sense that an α-stem would go to conjugation 1, ε-stem to 2 or 3 and a consonant stem to 3.

  • Is there any logic to this, or are the verbs borrowed any which way?
  • Are regular Greek verbs borrowed to Latin regularly?

Let me stress that I’m not looking for cognates, but for verbs borrowed from Greek to Latin.

My knowledge—and particularly my memory—of Greek grammar is quite limited, so feel free to correct any underlying misunderstandings by commenting or editing. If someone more familiar with Greek grammar wants to suggest rephrasing or refocusing the question, I’m all ears. (Or all eyes? After all, I will read, not listen.)

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Going from brianpck's list here, all the words that were borrowed as Greek verbs are indeed in the first conjugation.

The list of verbs, though, is incredibly short, and since there may be unknown exceptions, I wouldn't like to generalize the rule to include future verb borrowings; συγχωρέω, after all, was not used in any extant Classical Latin. Unless they were technical or didn't have nice equivalents, neither of which fit συγχωρέω, Greek words tended to be translated, not borrowed. For that verb, a typical Latin translation could have been conlocare.

As a side note, I can't get behind Draconis' reasoning for συγχωρέω as a way of translating touché. Smith suggests some ways of conceding arguments in Latin.

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