synoecism

• synœcism

From Ancient Greek συνοικισμός (sunoikismós), from συνοικίζειν (sunoikízein, “to make live with, to unite under one city”), from σύν (sún, “together”) + οἰκίζειν (oikízein, “to colonise”).

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈniːsɪzəm/

synoecism (plural synoecisms)

1. (Ancient Greece) The unification of towns, tribes etc. under one capital city or polis.
   • 1886, English History Review, I, pg 636:

     They always remained separate states and were never synoikised.

   • 1887, Andrew Lang, Myth, Ritual & Religion, I, pg 266:

     Legends...current before the villages were synoecised into Athens.

   • 1922, Ernest Arthur Gardner, Mantineia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XXX. 529/2:

     When the town was first formed...by the synœcism of the neighboring villages.