syncretism

noun

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”).

1. The reconciliation or fusion of different systems or beliefs (religious, cultural, or otherwise cosmologic or ontologic).

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. 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.”

   “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.”