The continuation of the article
A fifth version, which mentions it Nikolaos Citizen in his work on insulting figures, as well as many others, is based on the insulting figure that the Italians call far le fiche, with the hand in the shape of a fist and the thumb protruding between the index and middle fingers. Assuming that this figure would have existed in antiquity and would have been called "fig" (however, in modern Greek it does not have this name), they considered that the original meaning of sycophant would have been the one who shows the fig, that is, makes this insulting figure. In a variation, Kretschmer in the first issue of the magazine Glotta (1909) quotes the opinion of an ABCook (Classical Review 1907, 133-136), who finds this insulting figure in Ovid and in other ancient sources and considers that the slanderer would be the one who denounced others for their transgressions by making them the insulting shape of a "fig".
Sixth version Also, Gernet, like Sandren. formulated "that slanderers were called those who exposed those who had figs hidden in their clothes, that is, an insignificant petty theft, and by extension those who reported insignificant acts and then made false accusations." This version is not unlikely; indeed. at the symposia many parasites would leave having hidden dried figs in their clothes.
Seventh version, which could be a variation of the second: in Athens there were sacred fig trees, e.g. the sacred fig tree of the Phytalides on the road to Eleusis. Sycophants, then, who denounced the thieves of figs from the sacred fig trees, as a later commentator on Aristophanes mentions.
So eighth versionOf K. Romaiou from the Lexicographical Bulletin of the Academy (vol. 4, pp. 129-136), that the original sycophant was the one who, in the Eleusinian Mysteries, revealed the "sycon" of the gods; that is, he sees a cultic principle, with the sycophant being roughly synonymous with the hierophant and performing imitative intercourse. Let us say here that Romanos considers that the ancients called sycon not specifically the female penis but the vulva in general and in fact that far le fiche symbolized intercourse, with the male fig being the thumb and the index and middle fingers symbolizing the female.
Ninth version, If we accept that the word "figs" had the meaning of genitals in ancient times, a sycophant could be someone who denounced adulteries and other forms of love affairs.
Leaving the quicksand of etymology behind, let's move on to more solid ground and look a little at the history of the word. The word first appears in Aristophanes' Acharnians, where there is even a character from the comedy Sycophantes, who appears in the shop set up by Dicaeopolis and wants to denounce Megaritis and his "pigs" as enemies of the city and who is roughly expelled by Dicaeopolis, even though Sycophantes objects "should I not testify against the enemies?" (should I not testify against the enemies?)
A sycophant, then, is a public prosecutor, one who denounces to the judges the illegalities of others such as smuggling, tax evasion, illegal enrichment, and of course later one who blackmails wealthy citizens for their real or non-existent crimes, with which meaning we find abundant uses in the classical era and which ultimately this negative meaning prevailed although, as we see in Aristophanes, from the beginning the term had (also) a negative connotation.
The word sycophant is borrowed from the Latin language, sycophanta, and from there it passes into modern European languages.. However, in English the word undergoes, early on in fact, an interesting semantic change, and thus the meaning of sycophant is lost and the meaning of flatterer prevails, and in fact of a lowly and servile flatterer, and this is its current meaning. of the English word sycophant.
Some Words That the English Borrowed from the Greek Language and Gave a Different Interpretation
1. sycophant from the Greek word "sycophant" but in English it means "flatterer"
2. apologize from the Greek word apologia In ancient Greek the word Apologia is the justification, defense or defence of true, of an act or a idea, the response intended to refute an accusation in written or spoken speech. But in English it means "I apologize."
3 iconic from the Greek word "icon" but in English it means emblematic.
4. topical, from the Greek word "topikos" but in English it means "up-to-date".
5 diatribe, from the Greek word "diatribe" but in English it means "phrasal attack, philippic"
6. graphic, from the Greek word "graphic" but in English it mainly means "descriptive, glossy / realistic, raw"
7. asbestos, from The Greek word "asvestos" but in English it means asbestos.
8. adamantium, from the Greek word "adamas" but in English means "uncompromising, unyielding"
9 phenomenal, from the Greek word "phenomenon" but in English it means "extremely unusual, astonishing" and not "phenomenal". (Of course, in philosophical terminology the phenomenal corresponds to the apparent).
10. agronomist, from the Greek word "agronomos" but in English it means "agriculturist".
11. physician, from the Greek word "physician" but in English it means "physician" (not surgeon or surgeon)
12. apothecary, from the Greek word "apothiki", but in English it means "pharmacist" and not "storekeeper".
13. esoteric, from the Greek word "esoterikos" but in English it means "incomprehensible, for initiates, secret".
14. eulogy, from the Greek word "eulogia" but in English it means "praise" and mainly "funeral speech"
15. sympathy, from the Greek word "sympathie", but in English it mainly means compassion, condolences, understanding, support.
16. autopsy, from the Greek word "autopsy" but in English it means "necropsy".
17. epitaph, from the Greek word "epitaphio" but in English it means "tomb inscription".
18. pathetic, from the Greek word "passive" but in English it means "bitter, pitiful, sad" or "touching".
19. practical, from the Greek word "pragmaticos", but in English it means "pragmatist" (for persons) or "realistic, pragmatic" (for things)
In the treasury of the Greek Language (TLG) there are 559 entries from various ancient authors for the word Sycophant.
Now as to who first mentioned this word, the conclusion is that Aristophanes first mentioned it in the comedy Acharnians. Now Athenaeus in the Deipnosophists (Athenaeus Sophie., Deipnosophist (epitome)
Volume 2,1 page 3, line 27), tells us of Philomnestus, a completely unknown person, who states the following: "For he who is good knows that both men are good, the figs added indicate the way;
But now, to the evil one, he was convinced that he had been added to the evil one, why is he like this?
Philomnestos IV on the subject of the Smins in Rhodes
divine nature (FHG IV 477); 'and the slanderer
From there he interceded, because then the damages were
and the taxes of figs and wine and oil, from which
They govern the commons, and by collecting these things and
They seem to be calling, as usual, slanderers, slanderers.
the most trustworthy of citizens.
Some of the ancient writers who mention the word sycophant
Aristophanes (445 BC-3876 BC)
Plato (427 BC-347 BC)
Demosthenes (384 BC-322 BC)
Zinodorus 2th century BC
Diodorus Siculus (80 BC – 20 BC)
Lucian (125 AD - 180 AD)
The conclusion is that the first to mention it must also be the oldest, namely Aristophanes, who in essence said it was the unknown PHILOMNISTOS.
We may never know who coined this word because only a small percentage of ancient texts survived due to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria.
In closing, I want to add that lexicographers should do research and publish a book with all the Greek words that the English took and changed their interpretation.
Bibliography
Greek Language Thesaurus(TLG)
dictionary.Cambridge.to
sykophantes.wordpress.com/
Greek (Liddell-Scott)
Logeion.uchicago.edu
Dictionary of Ancient Greeks-Founders of World Civilization
The Oxford English Dictionary (20 Volume Set) (Vols 1-20). Second edition –J.A. Simpson & E.S.C. Weiner
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