Etymologically
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sycophantia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [syː.kɔˈpʰan.ti.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [si.koˈfan.t͡si.a][1]

Forms

sȳcophantia f (genitive sȳcophantiae); first declension[1] It is also spelled sūcophantia.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek συκοφαντία (sukophantía, “trickery”),[4][5][6] a noun from συκοφάντης (sukophántēs, “slanderer”).[1] That Greek word is a compound of σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) and φαίνω (phaínō, “to show”).[1][7] The agent noun came into Latin as sȳcophanta.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Plautus,[6] who pairs it with tricks: sucophantia atque doli.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Plautus' comedies, where it means a piece of humbug, a deceitful trick,[4][2] used in the singular and, more often, in the plural.[2][3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means craft or deception.[8] Medieval glossaries in Britain explain it as a false accusation, a slander.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the Pseudolus, the Miles gloriosus and other comedies.[2][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece of humbug, a deceitful trick; craft, cunning.[4][2][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A false accusation, slander.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press