sycophantia Latin · revision 34449

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc συκοφαντία}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [syː.kɔˈpʰan.ti.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [si.koˈfan.t͡si.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sȳcophantia''' ''f'' (genitive sȳcophantiae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also spelled ''sūcophantia''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|συκοφαντία|tr=sukophantía|t=trickery]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874)^(Köbler 2010) a noun from [[m|grc|συκοφάντης|tr=sukophántēs|t=slanderer]].^(Wiktionary) That Greek word is a compound of [[m|grc|σῦκον|tr=sûkon|t=fig]] and [[m|grc|φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=to show]].^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) The agent noun came into Latin as [[sȳcophanta]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) who pairs it with tricks: ''sucophantia atque doli''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a word of Plautus' comedies, where it means a piece of humbug, a deceitful trick,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) used in the singular and, more often, in the plural.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means craft or deception.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval glossaries in Britain explain it as a false accusation, a slander.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in the ''Pseudolus'', the ''Miles gloriosus'' and other comedies.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A piece of [[m|en|humbug]], a deceitful [[m|en|trick]]; craft, cunning.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A false accusation, [[m|en|slander]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sȳcophanta]]

+ * [[sȳcophantor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}