- ostracism
- 1580s, a method of 10-year banishment in ancient Athens, by which the citizens gathered and wrote the names of men they deemed dangerous to the state on potsherds or tiles, and a man whose name turned up often enough was sent away. From Gk. ostrakismos, from ostrakizein "to ostracize," from ostrakon "tile, potsherd," related to osteon "bone," ostreion "oyster" (and cognate with Ger. Estrich "pavement," from M.L. astracus "pavement," ult. from Gk. ostrakon). A similar practice in ancient Syracuse (with banishment for five years) was by writing names on olive leaves, and thus was called petalismos. Figurative sense of "to exclude from society" is attested from 1640s.