συκοφάντης Ancient Greek · revision 3111

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=5th–4th century BC, Aristophanes|origins=grc σῦκον, grc φαίνω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /syː.ko.pʰán.tɛːs/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /sy.koˈɸan.tis/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /sy.koˈfan.tis/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''σῡκοφᾰ́ντης''' (sūkophántēs) ''m'' (genitive σῡκοφᾰ́ντου, feminine σῡκοφᾰ́ντρῐᾱ or σῡκοφᾰ́ντῐς); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of [[σῦκον|tr=sûkon|t=fig]] and [[φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=to show, denounce]] with the agent suffix [[m|grc|-της|tr=-tēs]]: “one who shows the fig”.^(Wiktionary)^(Beekes 2010)^(Etymonline) Beekes and Frisk call it an expression of popular speech whose sense was explained in different ways already in antiquity.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Plutarch says it was first used of those who denounced people exporting figs from Attica against a ban.^(Frisk 1960) Cook explained it as referring to an obscene, apotropaic gesture, like the Italian and French phrases “to make the fig” at someone, which Etymonline describes as sticking the thumb between two fingers.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Aristophanes uses it often, in the ''Acharnians'' for informers who denounce contraband, and in ''Wealth''.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At Athens, where there was no public prosecutor, any citizen could bring a charge, and the ''sykophantēs'' was the man who did so maliciously, a false accuser, blackmailer or informer.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010) Isocrates uses it, and it is common in the Attic orators.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010) Plato, Demosthenes and Menander also use it more widely for a trickster or a petty critic.^(CGL 2021)^(Beekes 2010) Hesychius glosses it as “false accuser, mischief-maker”.^(Hesychius)

+

+ In the Septuagint it is an oppressor.^(Lust 2003) English took it as ''sycophant'' in the 1530s, first for an informer or slanderer.^(Etymonline) Modern Greek [[m|el|συκοφάντης|tr=sykofántis]] is a slanderer.^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes uses it for informers.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ * 5th–4th century BC – Isocrates uses it for informers.^(LSJ 1940)

+ * 4th century BC – Demosthenes and Menander use it for a trickster.^(CGL 2021)

+ * 3rd–1st century BC – The Septuagint uses it for an oppressor.^(Lust 2003)

+ * 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch explains it from informing against fig exports.^(Frisk 1960)

+ * 1530s – English borrows ''sycophant''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A malicious accuser, false accuser, informer, [[m|en|slanderer]].^(CGL 2021)^(LSJ 1940)

+ # A trickster, quibbler, petty critic.^(CGL 2021)

+ # An extortioner, oppressor.^(Lust 2003)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[συκοφαντία|tr=sūkophantíā]]

+ * [[συκοφαντικός|tr=sūkophantikós]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[σῦκον|tr=sûkon]]

+ * [[φαίνω|tr=phaínō]]

+ * [[en|sycophant]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}