συκοφάντης

σῦκον (sûkon, “fig”) +‎ φαίνω (phaínō, “show”) +‎ -της (-tēs, masculine agent-noun suffix).

σῡκοφᾰ́ντης • (sūkophántēs) m (genitive σῡκοφᾰ́ντου); first declension (Attic, Koine)

1. informant, denouncer (in court)
2. professional swindler
3. extortioner, oppressor
   • 300 BCE – 200 BCE, Septuagint, Proverbs 28.16:

     βασιλεὺς ἐνδεὴς προσόδων μέγας συκοφάντης, ὁ δὲ μισῶν ἀδικίαν μακρὸν χρόνον ζήσεται.

     basileùs endeḕs prosódōn mégas sukophántēs, ho dè misôn adikían makròn khrónon zḗsetai.

     • Translation by Charles Lee Brenton

       A king in need of revenues is a great oppressor: but he who hates injustice shall live a long time.

• Latin: sȳcophanta
  • → English: sycophant
  • → French: sycophante
  • → Spanish: sicofanta (learned)
• → Greek: συκοφάντης (sykofántis) (learned)

• “συκοφάντης”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “συκοφάντης”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• συκοφάντης in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sukophántēs, “informant”).^[1] But how a φάντης (“who shows”) σῦκα (sûka, “figs”) came to mean "informant", is debated.

• IPA^(key): /si.koˈfan.dis/
• Hyphenation: συ‧κο‧φά‧ντης

συκοφάντης • (sykofántis) m (feminine συκοφάντισσα or συκοφάντρια)

1. calumniator, slanderer

συκοφάντης is a false friend of English sycophant, since the modern meaning of the English word is different.

• and see at φαντάζω (fantázo) and σύκο n (sýko, “fig”)