σαρκάζω

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /sar.káz.dɔː/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /sarˈka.zo/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /sarˈka.zo/^[1]

Forms

σᾰρκᾰ́ζω (sarkázō) ^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from σάρξ (sárx, “flesh”) with the verbal suffix -άζω (-ázō).^[1][2][3] Beekes and Frisk find no fully convincing argument for this obvious connection, but think that in Aristophanes it may mean “to strip the flesh from the bones”, like σαρκίζω (sarkízō), whence it was transferred to grazing horses; its later meaning may have been influenced by σέσηρα (sésēra, “to grin”).^[4][5] The Hesychian ⟨σύρκιζε⟩ may be an Aeolic form.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristophanes' Peace uses it of men compared to dogs pulling stubbornly: LSJ takes it as “tearing flesh like dogs”, the CGL as drawing back the lips to bare the teeth in a grimace of effort.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The Hippocratic writings use it for horses plucking grass with their lips, and Galen for biting one's lips in rage.^[2][4] From the bared teeth came the sense “to sneer, mock bitterly”, recorded by Philo, Stobaeus and Hesychius, who glosses it as “to smile, feign, laugh at”.^[2][4][5]

Its derivative σαρκασμός (sarkasmós, “bitter mockery”) appears in the grammarians.^[4][5] Modern Greek σαρκάζω (sarkázo) is a learned word for caustic mockery.^[6]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it of men pulling like dogs.^[2][3]
• 5th century BC – The Hippocratic writings use it of grazing horses.^[2][4]
• 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Philo uses it for sneering.^[2][4]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for biting one's lips in rage.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tear flesh like dogs; to bare the teeth in a grimace.^[2][3]
2. (of horses) To pluck grass with the lips.^[2]
3. To bite one's lips in rage.^[2][1]
4. To sneer, mock bitterly.^[2][4]

Word family

• σαρκασμός (sarkasmós)

Related words

• σάρξ (sárx)
• English sarcasm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki