Origin of The Term
The word comes from the Greek σαρκασμός (sarkasmos) which is taken from the word σαρκάζειν meaning "to tear flesh, bite the lip in rage, sneer".
It is first recorded in English in 1579, in an annotation to The Shepheardes Calender by Edmund Spenser: October:
Tom piper; An Ironicall, spoken in derision of these rude wits, whych make more account of a ryming rybaud, then of skill grounded upon learning and iudgment. —Edmund SpenserRead more about this topic: Sarcasm
Famous quotes containing the words origin of, origin and/or term:
“Someone had literally run to earth
In an old cellar hole in a byroad
The origin of all the family there.
Thence they were sprung, so numerous a tribe
That now not all the houses left in town
Made shift to shelter them without the help
Of here and there a tent in grove and orchard.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Our theism is the purification of the human mind. Man can paint, or make, or think nothing but man. He believes that the great material elements had their origin from his thought.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I shall not seek and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)