SARCASM

This article appears in Volume V24, Page 208 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SAC-SAR

SARCASM , an ironical or sneering remark or taunt, a biting or satirical expression. The word comes through the Latin from the

Greek

GREEK
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

aapt av, literally to

tear

TEAR

flesh (aapE) like a dog; hence, figuratively, to bite the lips in rage, to speak bitterly (cf. Stobaeus, Eclog. ii. 222). The

etymology

ETYMOLOGY (Gr. grvµos, true, and X6yos, "
account
- ACCOUNT
- ACCOUNT (through O. Fr. acont, Late Lat. comptum, cornputare, to calculate)
)

of this may be paralleled by the

English

ENGLISH

" sneer," from Dan. snarre, to grin like a dog, cognate with " snarl," to make a rattling r

sound

SOUND
SOUND, THE (Danish Oresund)

in the

throat

THROAT (O. Eng. protu, prote or }Prota, possibly from preotan, to press, whence threat, or, with loss of initial s, connected with strut, to swell)

, Ger. schnarren, and possibly also by " sardonic." This latter word appears in

Greek

GREEK
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND

in the form oap&avios, always in the sense of

bitter

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

or scornful laughter, in such phrases as aapMviov yeXav, 'yaws actpMvtos and the like. It is probably connected with aatpew, to draw back, i.e. the lips, like a dog, but was usually explained (by the early scholiasts and commentators) as referring to a Sardinian plant (

Ranunculus

RANUNCULUS

Sardous), whose

bitter

BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

taste

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

screwed up the mouth. Thus, later Greek writers wrote Eap&iv1ov, and it was adopted into Latin; cf. Servius on Virg. Ed. vii. 41 " immo ego Sardois videar tibi amarior herbis."

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