Subject: " sycophant " , more .

subsequent to my recent posting about the origin of the word " sycophant " i received two comments which add interesting insights . i am forwarding them for your information . richard blucher > from dave wharton ( whartond @ iris . uncg . edu ) liddel & scott 's _ greek - english lexicon _ shows the word sykophanths in common usage not before the middle of the 5th century b . c . no ancient uses show any relation of the word to the " sign of the fig . " here 's the political context of its use in the 5th century and later , from the oxford classical dictionary : " athens had no public prosecutors in the modern sense . solon permitted citizens to prosecute any wrongdoers . inducements were offered to volunteers in certain cases by granting them a liberal share of fines and moneys recovered from the treasury . the system worked : there was no lack of prosecutors . but c . 450 b . c . abuses appeared . men began to make a profession of prosecutions for personal , political , and financial reasons . these were called sycophants . in spite of constant references by aristophanes and the orators , there survives no legal definition of a sycophant . . . . the most dangerous type of sycophant was the blackmailer who extorted money so that the guilty escaped punishment and the innocent paid blackmail . . . " * * * * * > from zqv6656 @ acfcluster . nyu . edu a belated comment on your query on " the sign of the fig " . in my homeland , i . e . istria which an adriatic peninsula in the northwestern part of croatia ( former yugoslavia ) we use this sign in two ( related ? ) meanings . the first one is the one mentioned by many other people who responded to you , i . e . the sign of defiance and strong rejection . it does not have any sexual or indecent connotation . its second use is as a good luck sing ( much as crossed fingers in america ) , but then it is done on both hands for either yourself or somebody else ( maybe in defiance to " bad luck " , " devil " , etc . ) zvjezdana vrzic * * * * *
