σαρκασμός

Forms

σᾰρκᾰσμός (sarkasmós) m (genitive σᾰρκᾰσμοῦ); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Ancient Greek σαρκάζω (sarkázō) + -μός (-mós), an action noun.^[1][2][3]

The verb is rare and its meaning disputed: Aristophanes uses it of dogs that bite stubbornly, the Hippocratic writings of grazing horses, and Galen of biting the lips in anger, and the lexica gloss it as 'to mock bitterly'.^[3] The CGL takes the passage of Aristophanes as 'to draw back the flesh and show the teeth, grimace'.^[4] The obvious source is σάρξ (sárx, “flesh”), but Beekes notes that the link has not been fully explained: in Aristophanes the verb may mean 'to gnaw the flesh off the bones' (compare σαρκίζω (sarkízō)), and the sense 'sneer' may owe something to σέσηρα (sésēra, “to grin”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun appears in the 2nd century AD, in Herodian's work on figures of speech and in Phrynichus' Sophistic Preparation, meaning bitter mockery, sarcasm.^[5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Earlier, Aristophanes' Frogs has the comic compound σαρκασμοπιτυοκάμπται (sarkasmopituokámptai), whose formation is unclear.^[3] GLAUx also finds the word in a treatise on tropes under the name of Tryphon.^[6] It was a term of rhetoric for a biting, scornful taunt.^[7] Pape describes it as the mocking laugh of an angry man, and the word is found only in late writers.^[7][8]

Through Late Latin sarcasmus it gave English sarcasm, first as sarcasmus in the 1570s and in its modern form from the 1610s.^[9] Modern Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmós) is a learned word taken from the Hellenistic noun, its use shaped by French sarcasme and English sarcasm; it names bitterly ironic words meant to wound.^[10][11]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes' Frogs has a comic compound containing it.^[3][12]
• 2nd century AD – Herodian and Phrynichus use it for bitter mockery.^[5][12]
• 1570s – English borrows it through Late Latin as sarcasmus; the form sarcasm follows in the 1610s.^[9]
• Modern Greek – It is a learned word for sarcasm.^[10][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Bitter mockery, a scornful taunt; sarcasm as a figure of speech.^{[5][8][7][13]}

Related words

• σάρξ (sárx)
• Late Latin sarcasmus
• English sarcasm

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b c Дворецкий, И. Х. (1958), Древнегреческо-русский словарь, Moscow: ГИС
8. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
11. ^ a b Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
12. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge
13. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli