Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

I carelessly used the word "hierophant" at our family sabbath lunch yesterday and was sent off to consult the dictionary about its origin. Here's what we learned:

Hierophant. "1. An expounder of Eleusian mysteries; 2. An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge." From the Greek hiero (sacred) and phainen (to reveal or show).

Phantasy. From the Greek phantazein ("to make visible"), which comes from phainein.

Sycophant. "One who attempts to win favor or advance himself by flattering persons of influence." From the Latin from the Greek sukophantes or "fig-shower" (not in the watery sense but as one who shows), derived from "accuser," "from the use of the gesture of the fig in denouncing a criminal." Informer became flatterer, and thus we get "sycophant." The "syco" comes from the Greek for "fig," and "phant" comes from our old friend phainein.

Elephant. From the Greek elephas, elephant. The American Heritage Dictionary says, confusingly: "el-, akin to Hamitic elu, elephant + ephas, akin to Egyptian abu, elephant, ivory. It sounds like elephant was derived from two words that mean "elephant," but in any case, there's no phainein in it. ("At least not much phainein in it.")

We're still left with that shower of figs to explain. According to Kel Richards:

There is a story, recorded by Plutarch, to the effect that in Ancient Athens the export of figs was illegal, and an informer who betrayed an attempt at illegally carrying figs out of the district was called a “fig-shower” or (in Greek) a sycophant.

The story seems to be in Plutarch's Life of Solon (sect. 24):

He permitted only oil to be exported, and those that exported any other fruit, the archon was solemnly to curse, or else pay an hundred drachmas himself; and this law was written in his first table, and, therefore, let none think it incredible, as some affirm, that the exportation of figs was once unlawful, and the informer against the delinquents called a sycophant.

The Spelling Doctor wries:

In ancient Greece, sycophant meant “fig shower”, “accuser” or “informer”, from the custom of waving a fig leaf to denounce a criminal.

The Trumpeter, a Bible study site, says:

Literally it means 'fig-informer' or 'fig-identifier'. This job involved inspecting, and consequently stopping the illegal exporting of figs, thus preventing them from leaving the country, and keeping them where they belonged - especially in times of drought. The term became synonymous with fraud and extortion. Perhaps a few figs here and there went unnoticed, for a price.

The Free Dictionary (which has some weird MouseOver crap going on that prevents you from copying what you've selected) says:

According to ancient authorites, the word ... meant one who informed against another for exporting figs (which was forbidden by law) or for stealing the fruit of the sacred fig-trees, whether in time of famine or on any other occasion. Another old explanation was that fines and taxes were at one time paid in figs, wine and oil, and those who collected such payments in kind were called sycophants because they "presented," publicly handed them in.

The Oxford English Dictionary says its origins are obscure, but I'm liking Plutarch actually getting forbidden figs and "sycophant" in the same sentence.