συναλλάσσω

From the study of Acts 7:26

Range of meaning

To bring parties at odds back into relationship, to reconcile. It is built from sun- ("together") and the allass- root ("change"), so the picture is changing people's relation so that they are together again. It occurs only here in the New Testament. Its near relatives are diallassō (Matthew 5:24, "be reconciled to your brother") and katallassō (Paul's usual word for reconciliation).

Against the English

BSB, ESV, NIV and NASB all use "tried to reconcile," which is accurate on both the meaning and the tense. KJV's "would have set them at one again" also captures the failed attempt, in older English. WEB and YLT say "urged," because they follow a different Greek reading, sunēlasen ("drove together").

How it drifted

The word itself has not drifted. The only trap is that English "reconciled" usually implies success, while the Greek imperfect tense here describes an attempt in progress, one that fails in the next verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Classical Greek uses the verb for making peace between hostile parties (Thucydides 1.24, of settling with exiles). BDAG glosses it "reconcile" and treats this instance as an attempt, and Greek grammars (BDF §326) cite this kind of imperfect as describing something tried but not completed. The Latin Vulgate has reconciliabat, showing the same reading and tense.