Shift in Meaning in Modern English
The word “sycophant” entered the English and French languages in the mid 16th Century, and originally had the same meaning in English and French (sycophante) as in Greek, a false accuser. In Greek and French it retains the original meaning. The meaning in English has changed over time, however, and came to mean an insincere flatterer. The common thread in the older and current meanings is that the sycophant is in both instances portrayed as a kind of parasite, speaking falsely and insincerely in the accusation or the flattery for gain. The Greek plays often combine in a single character the elements of the parasite and the sycophant, and the natural similarities of the two closely related types led to the shift in the meaning of the word. The sycophant in both meanings can also be viewed as two sides of the same coin: the same person currying one's favor by insincere flattery is also spreading false tales and accusations behind one's back. In Renaissance English, the word was used in both senses and meanings, that of the Greek informer, and the current sense of a “flattering parasite” with both being cast as enemies not only of those they wrong, but the person or state that they ostensibly serve.
Read more about this topic: Sycophant
Famous quotes containing the words shift, meaning, modern and/or english:
“The shift from the perception of the child as innocent to the perception of the child as competent has greatly increased the demands on contemporary children for maturity, for participating in competitive sports, for early academic achievement, and for protecting themselves against adults who might do them harm. While children might be able to cope with any one of those demands taken singly, taken together they often exceed children’s adaptive capacity.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“To help, to continually help and share, that is the sum of all knowledge; that is the meaning of art.”
—Eleonora Duse (1859–1924)
“I tell you, sir, the only safeguard of order and discipline in the modern world is a standardized worker with interchangeable parts. That would solve the entire problem of management.”
—Jean Giraudoux (1882–1944)
“French rhetorical models are too narrow for the English tradition. Most pernicious of French imports is the notion that there is no person behind a text. Is there anything more affected, aggressive, and relentlessly concrete than a Parisan intellectual behind his/her turgid text? The Parisian is a provincial when he pretends to speak for the universe.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)