1530s (in Latin form sycophanta), "informer, talebearer, slanderer" (a sense now obsolete), from French sycophante and directly from Latin sycophanta, from Greek sykophantēs "false accuser, slanderer," literally "one who shows the fig," from sykon "fig" (see fig (n.1)) + phainein "to show" (from PIE root *bha- (1) "to shine").
"Showing the fig" was a vulgar gesture made typically by sticking the thumb between two fingers. That it was considered obscene and insulting is all that is sure. A split fig was symbolic of a vagina (sykon also meant "vulva"). The thumb-poking-between-the-fingers gesture has been a sexual image in various times and places; see fig (n.1).
The usual modern explanation of the use of the word in reference to certain persons in ancient Greece is that prominent politicians held aloof from scurrilous gestures but privately urged followers to taunt their opponents.
The explanation, long current, that it orig. meant an informer against the unlawful exportation of figs cannot be substantiated. [OED, 2nd ed. print, 1989]
That discarded explanation is as old as the word's use in English, and the phrase already was explained differently in antiquity. The general sense of "parasite; mean, servile flatterer" especially of princes or the great is recorded in English by 1570s.
"of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a sycophant," 1670s, from Greek sykophantikos, from sykophantēs (see sycophant). Related: Sycophantical (1560s).
*bhā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to shine."
It forms all or part of: aphotic; bandolier; banner; banneret; beacon; beckon; buoy; diaphanous; emphasis; epiphany; fantasia; fantasy; hierophant; pant (v.); -phane; phanero-; phantasm; phantasmagoria; phantom; phase; phene; phenetic; pheno-; phenology; phenomenon; phenyl; photic; photo-; photocopy; photogenic; photograph; photon; photosynthesis; phosphorus; phaeton; sycophant; theophany; tiffany; tryptophan.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit bhati "shines, glitters;" Greek phainein "bring to light, make appear," phantazein "make visible, display;" Old Irish ban "white, light, ray of light."
early 13c., from Old French figue "fig" (12c.), from Old Provençal figa, from Vulgar Latin *fica, corresponding to Latin ficus "fig tree, fig," which, with Greek sykon, Armenian t'uz is "prob. fr. a common Mediterranean source" [Buck], possibly a Semitic one (compare Phoenician pagh "half-ripe fig"). A reborrowing of a word that had been taken directly from Latin as Old English fic "fig, fig-tree."
The insulting sense of the word in Shakespeare, etc. (A fig for ...) is 1570s (in 17c. sometimes in Italian form fico), in part from fig as "small, valueless thing," but also from Greek and Italian use of their versions of the word as slang for "vulva," apparently because of how a ripe fig looks when split open [Rawson, Weekley]. Giving the fig (Old French faire la figue, Spanish dar la higa) was an indecent gesture of ancient provenance, made by putting the thumb between two fingers or into the mouth, with the intended effect of the modern gesture of "flipping the bird" (see bird (n.3)). Also compare sycophant.
Use of fig leaf in figurative sense of "flimsy disguise" (1550s) is from Genesis iii.7. Fig-faun translates Latin faunus ficarius (Jeremiah l.39). Fig Newtons (by 1907) are named for Newton, Massachusetts.
late 14c., "a proposition inadvertently proved in proving another," from Late Latin corollarium "a deduction, consequence," from Latin corollarium, originally "money paid for a garland," hence "gift, gratuity, something extra;" and in logic, "a proposition proved from another that has been proved." From corolla "small garland," diminutive of corona "a crown" (see crown (n.)).
Also in Middle English "a follower, a sycophant" (late 14c.). As an adjective, "of the nature of a corollary," mid-15c.
also brownnose, "try excessively to make a good impression on one with authority," 1939, American English colloquial, said to be military slang originally, from brown (adj.) + nose (n.), "from the implication that servility is tantamount to having one's nose in the anus of the person from whom advancement is sought" [Webster, 1961, quoted in OED]. Related: Brown-noser (by 1945, early citations suggest military slang), brown-nosing (by 1950). British bumsucker "sycophant" is attested from 1877.
Old English clawian "to scratch, claw," from the same root as claw (n.). Related: Clawed; clawing. Compare Dutch klaauwen, Old High German klawan, German klauen.
To claw back "regain by great effort" is from 1953; as a noun, an act of this, from 1969. Earlier clawback (n.) meant "one who fawns on another, a sycophant" (1540s), from phrase claw the back "flatter, curry favor" (late 14c.); compare the more recent expression scratch (someone's) back in a similar sense.
"tiny, shredded pieces," by 1828, in to smithers; compare smithereens.
The Simpsons character made his first appearance in 1990 and from him the surname has sometimes been used (by 2004) for a sycophant.
