cynic English · revision 38

+ ==Etymology==

+ First recorded in the 1540s,^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) originally of the ancient school of philosophers founded by Antisthenes.^(Etymonline) It is [[bor|la|cynicus]] (perhaps partly via [[frm|cynique]]),^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) [[der|grc|κυνικός|tr=kunikós|t=dog-like, currish]],^(OED 1989)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|κύων|tr=kúōn|t=dog]],^(OED 1989)^(AHD) [[der|ine-pro|*kwon-|t=dog]].^(Etymonline)

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+ The name probably referred originally to the Kynosarges, the gymnasium outside Athens where Antisthenes taught,^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) but it was popularly taken in the sense “dog-like”, in allusion to the coarse manners of the philosophers.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) The sense “sneering, sarcastic person” dates from the 1590s.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}