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The word "Sycophant" has a different meaning in Greek and another in English.

29 May, 2025
The word "Sycophant" has a different meaning in Greek and another in English.

Rochak Shukla, Image licensed by freepik.com

The word "Sycophant" has a different meaning in Greek and another in English.

The second part of the article

 

 

greek Monotonous

slanderer: -u, the (I look), one who falsely accuses someone, devil, false accuser, slanderer, who When not used in Greek, like modern English. sycophant, i.e. toady· in general, one who gives false, malicious opinions or advice, to a public. usually is derived from fig and I look, the one who denounced in court those who exported illegally figs from Attica; better, perhaps the one who reveals the figs, i.e. the one who brings the figs to light by shaking the tree (as the figs remained hidden inside the densely foliage); and then, transl., one who forces the rich, through threats of slandering them, to provide him with money.

Greek (Liddell-Scott)

slanderer: -ou, the one, as now, the one who falsely accuses someone, or who curses, Aristophanes, etc.; (never But among the Greeks it has the meaning that sycophant has in English, i.e. toadynot at all, false, fraudulentadvisor, Dim. 475. 27. ― The slanderers began to multiply from the time of Pericles and were the object of common insult from part of the comedians, Aristoph. Ach. 559, 818 xx., etc.; see Schol. on Plut. 31, Antiphons 138. 32, Andoc., etc. (The word produced according to Istron and Philomnes by Athen. 74E, and F, Plut. Solon 24. 2, 523B, from the figI look, and mainly marked the person who was reporting something in the court as one who brings figs from Attica, or as one who bears the fruit of the sacred figs. ― But the slanderer on the understanding of the accuser nowhere also answers interpretation αὕτη εἶναι probably simple contrivance, cf. Lysias. 171. 14 (of the slanderers) ἔργον Even those who have committed no sin are considered a cause.), Dec. 1309. 12 (for this is the meaning of the word, to be blamed for everything, but to choose nothing)). Mr. Lancelot Shadwell pointed out that the word mainly It meant the revealing fig, i.e. the one revealing the existence of figs by the shaking of the tree (which figs were hidden in the dense αὐτοῦ foliage); then a metaphor, the one who forces the rich to provide him with money by threats of false accusations and other such means; and in support, a mention is made of the use of quake on the meaning of concutio (quake I. 4), comparing the phrases "they are, they say money, they threaten, they slander", Aristophanes. Apos. 20, cf. Hippolytus 840, Erythr. 639; others… he slanders and slanders Antiphons 146. 22; do not be shaken at all nor slander the Gospel of Luke 14:XNUMX; thus you also oppress those responsible, for your own purposes. who… Aristophanes. Hippolytus 259 xx.; he draws the fruits of strangers self 324.

 

Ancient Sources


Athenaeus Soph., Deipnosophistae
Book 3, Kaibel paragraph 6, line 30

Philomnestos IV on the subject of the Smins in Rhodes
divine nature (FHG IV 477); 'and there he 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.


Athenaeus Soph., Deipnosophistae
Book 3, Kaibel paragraph 6, line 29

  For he who was good, he saw the two men,
  The added figs indicate the way;
  But now, to the wicked one, here is added
  He wondered why it was like this.
Philomnestos d' in the matter of those in Rhodes Smin-
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.

 

Zenodorus Gramm., Περὶ συνηθείας (e cod. Paris. suppl. gr. 1164 [olim cod. Athon.])
Page 258, line 8

Slanderer Whence; the fig tree is worthy of the discovery of Dionysus, and of food
The first of the day was the fig tree, hence they called the fig tree a fig tree,
and when the washermen come, it precedes the fig tree, which they themselves have prepared for-
They speak; therefore the Athenians, having a love of honor, are the first (l. first)
They will take the rye, and for a good omen this will be placed in the fields.
They looked also at the fig trees, asking what they had seen; and the mane
The one who first saw this was called a fig tree, but later
slanderer, From the appearance of the fig tree to showing it to others.


Zenodorus Gramm., Περὶ συνηθείας (e cod. Paris. suppl. gr. 1164 [olim cod. Athon.])
Page 258, line 12

But those who say that a famine was taking place in Athens, a resolution was passed not to issue it.
figs; and seeing some bringing forth figs, they passed by, and by the way
I see figs, slanderer The false one about figs appearing.

 

 

Scholia In Platonem, Scholia in Platonem (scholia vetera)
Dialogue R, Stephanus page 340d, line 2

slanderer.
slanderer It is said that one who falsely accuses someone is called a liar.
Thus, by the Athenians, the fig plant was first found, and for
This hinders the figs.

 

Suda, Lexicon
Alphabetic letter sigma, entry 1331, line 1

                                                                        ἐκ
behold, their diseases and food shortages have seized the Himeraeans.
<Sycophant:> famine occurring in Attica, some clandestinely
The fig trees dedicated to the gods were bearing fruit; but after this
Some accuse him of being a fool.

 

Demosthenes Orat., In Aristogitonem 1
Section 45, line 5

                                  If Aristotle is wicked,
neighbor simply and bitterly and slanderer and such a house
I beg, I give, I forgive, Philocrates, to you in this matter.
to save the same; for of all others and wise
What he sees and observes the laws, even though I am not yet
to be born.

Aristophanes Comic., Acharnenses
line 818

We are talking about Hermas, the women are ours.
Thus, I am given the title of "mother of the dead."
{SLANDERER}
Man, a foot soldier?


Plato Phil., Respublica (0059: 030)
"
Plato's opera, vol. 4”, Ed. Burnet, J.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1902, Repr. 1968.
Stephanus page 340, section d, line 1

Go, I said, don't tell this to the rulers.
You confess that they are not sinless, but that they sin.
 Slanderer For, said I, Socrates, in the discourses;
You call a physician for yourself, you who sin against others.
by doing this very thing that makes one sin?

 

Diodorus Siculus Hist., Bibliotheca historica (lib. 1-20)
Book 12, chapter 24, section 3, line 6

                               and the one who hears
of the accusation and the daughter of the one who manipulated,
the one who is taken slanderer She went as her own slave.

 

Lucianus Soph., Tyrannicida (0062: 051)
"
Lucian, vol. 5”, Ed. Harmon, AM
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936, Repr. 1972.
Section 11, line 15

                    Don't be too precise about it.
the manner of the latter never examined as
He died, but if he lives, if for me
It is not long; upon that careful examination
You test me and slandererHe is the benefactor,
if not with a sword, but with a stone or wood or some other
He was killed in a way.

 

Zinodorus and the versions of the word sycophant


According to
first version According to Zenodorus, because the Athenians loved figs very much, there were many who went to the fields and saw if the figs had ripened; and whoever was the first to bring the news that the year's figs had ripened was initially called a fig-finder and later a sycophant; and from there a sycophant was figuratively called someone who poked his nose into the private lives of others, just as before he would dig up the branches of the fig tree to see if its fruit had ripened.

The second version of Zinodorou

Once upon a time there was a famine in Athens, says Zinodorus, and the demos passed a resolution prohibiting the export of figs; those who falsely accused others of exporting figs were called slanderers. And those who say that because of the famine in Athens, a decree was passed not to sell figs; therefore, observing some selling figs, they went and saw that, despite the fact that it was about figs, the slanderer falsely claimed to be about figs. The same, but without hunger, says Plutarch a few centuries later: For when he was prevented from bringing forth the figs, those who accused him and appeared to be bringing forth the figs were called 'slanderers.' Athenaeus also says the same, who in fact refers to an older (now lost) writing by Istros: In the Attic cities, the gossip of the Attic peoples who were engaged in these activities was not spread, so that the inhabitants alone could enjoy it; and many were found to be thieves, and those who accused them in court were then first slandered. However, as you may have heard, this version is contradicted by the fact that no such resolution has been found in an ancient text, nor does the ban make much sense since all of Greece had figs in abundance.

A third version, which according to the Greek Liddell-Scott was formulated by a certain Lancelot Shadwell, is that sycophants were originally called those who shook the fig tree to reveal the figs that were hidden in the high branches and dense foliage, and from there, metaphorically, anyone who forced the rich to give him money with threats. It is a fact that in ancient times, seio often appears next to sycophanto (e.g. in a passage from Aristophanes) and even Hesychius has the entry “slander: slander”

A fourth version, mentioned by Athenaeus, is that in Rhodes those responsible for collecting taxes from citizens, which were paid in kind (figs, oil and wine), were called sycophants - and that they chose the most trustworthy citizens for this job.

(To be continued)

photo Rochak Shukla, Image license by freepik.com 

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