sycophancy
Sign in to savethumb|Illustration by Peter Newell for the poem "The Sycophantic Fox and the Gullible Raven" in [[Fables for the Frivolous, by Guy Wetmore Carryl; in French, the fox says "I admire your beautiful plumage" to the raven]] In modern English, sycophant denotes an insincere flatterer and refers to someone practising sycophancy (i.e., insincere flattery to gain an advantage).
Article
14 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- In Athenian culture
- Orations
- Measures to suppress sycophants
- Satire
- Christianity
- Modern Greek
- Shift in meaning in modern English
- AI sycophancy{{anchor|LLM sycophancy|Chatbots}}
- Related expressions
- See also
- Further reading
- References
- External links
thumb|Illustration by Peter Newell for the poem "The Sycophantic Fox and the Gullible Raven" in [[Fables for the Frivolous, by Guy Wetmore Carryl; in French, the fox says "I admire your beautiful plumage" to the raven]] In modern English, sycophant denotes an insincere flatterer and refers to someone practising sycophancy (i.e., insincere flattery to gain an advantage).
The word has its origin in the legal system of Classical Athens, where it had a different meaning. Most legal cases of the time were brought by private litigants, as there was no police force and a limited number of appointed public prosecutors. By the fifth century BC, this practice had given rise to abuse by sycophants: litigants who brought unjustified prosecutions. The word retains the same meaning ('slanderer') in Modern Greek, French (where means 'false accuser', or professional 'informer'), and Italian. In modern English, the meaning of the word has shifted to mean flattery.