Sycophancy (pronounced sik-uh-fuhn-see)
(1) Self-seeking
or servile flattery.
(2) The
character or conduct of a sycophant.
1537: From
the Latin sȳcophanta (informer, trickster), from the Ancient Greek συκοφάντης (sykophántēs), the construct being sûkon (fig) + phaínō
(I show). The gesture of "showing
the fig" was an “obscene gesture of phallic significance”, made by
sticking the thumb between two fingers, a display which vaguely resembles a
fig, symbolic of a sûkon (which meant
also vulva). Politicians in ancient
Greece tended not to use this vulgar gesture but urged their followers to use
it to taunt opponents. The later Greek
form is sykophantia, derived from sykophantes. The phrase “yes-man” (a man who agrees from
self-interest or fear with everything put to him by a superior) was first used
in 1912, a creation of American English, the male-centric wording indicative of
the predominance at the time of men in corporate structures but there's no
exclusivity of gender, women too can be "yes-men" although
"yes-women" doesn't as easily roll from the tongue.
Modern
historians enjoy the explanations but tend to be dismissive of their veracity
though all seem to agree the original sense is of a word used to disparage one
who, by the levelling of unjustified accusations, has perverted the legal
system beyond a mere abuse of process.
Pervading all is the suggestion the term was thought always at least
slightly obscene, the linkage presumably because of the symbolism of the fig in
ancient Greek culture in that sense. The
attachment to legal process in Athenian culture, separate from any hint of
obscenity, did grow and the net was cast wide, sycophants not only vexatious
litigants but also those who issued writs merely to try to induce defendants to
make a payment in exchange for dropping the case or third parties otherwise
unconnected to the sometime ancient matters before the court, appearing only to
seek an undeserved profit. In time, to
accuse a litigant of sycophancy became a serious thing, such was the opprobrium
society had come to direct towards the conduct and there are surviving texts
written by those defending themselves from the charge. Athenian law responded, imposing fines on
litigants whose matters were found vexatious or which were clearly an abuse of
process and there are echoes still of these acts in modern Greek domestic law
where, as in France, sycophant is used still in the original sense. The phenomenon attracted the playwrights
too, explored by Aristophanes (circa 446 BC-circa 386 BC) in his satires.
Impact Of Wealth (1563) by Philips Galle (1537–1612) & Hadrianus Junius (1511–1575).
In the English-speaking world, the meaning shift seems to have
happened during the Renaissance, meanings old and new running in parallel until
the sense of the "insincere flatterer" came to prevail. It was an organic linguistic morphing, not
something induce by some event or individual, the common thread probably that
both behaviors were perceived parasitic and insincere.
Notable
Sycophants in History and Literature
Dr Joseph Goebbels (1897-1975; Nazi propaganda minister 1933-1945) had been an early critic of Hitler so to redeem himself, spent the rest of his career in fawning devotion, initiating the Heil Hitler salute and insisting on the use of Der Führer (the leader, originally just a party title) as an official title. His letters and diaries are full of groveling praise and his propaganda campaigns created the modern personality cult. In fairness to Goebbels, his work was inspired and sometimes brilliant but other sycophants in the Third Reich were less impressive. While Goebbels’ work sparkled, youth leader, Baldur von Schirach (1907-1974; party functionary 1931-1945), wrote verse after verse of dreary poetry in praise of Hitler though there’s no suggestion the Führer much troubled himself to read his oeuvre. At least Goebbels and Schirach stayed loyal to the end. Sycophant number one and head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945; head of the SS 1929-1945), called himself “the truest of the true” and Hitler agreed, often referring to the Reichführer-SS as “der treue Heinrich" (the faithful Heinrich), and, although never part of the inner circle, was much valued for his sycophancy and unconditional obedience. Himmler though, by 1944 and perhaps earlier, worked out things weren’t going too well and eventually, in negotiating with the enemy and planning ways to ingratiate himself to General Eisenhower, delivered the Führer a final stab in the back. By then it was already too late and Hitler has long concluded none of his sycophants were worthy enough to be his successor, deciding Rudolf Hess (1894–1987; Deputy Führer 1933-1941) had gone mad and Hermann Göring (1893–1946; leading Nazi 1922-1945) had lost the sympathy of the German people. Both judgements were fair enough but his reason for rejecting Himmler made sense only in Hitler's bizarre world view: He thought the Reichführer-SS "unartistic".
Appointed to cabinet by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Australian politician Penny Wong was never reticent in praising Gillard’s fine judgment and feminist solidarity. That was until she finally worked out things weren’t going too well and so voted to back-stab Gillard and resuscitate the previously knifed Kevin Rudd. Modern identity politics helpfully provides Wong with handy cover; any criticism, however justified, she can condemn as misogyny, homophobia or racism. Early in the reign of Caligula, he fell ill, inspiring one Roman to offer to sacrifice own life if the emperor recovered. This kind, if extravagant, vow was declared publicly, in the hope his show his deep loyalty would elicit some generous award. Caligula did recover but the sycophant’s tactic backfired; Caligula decided to accept the chap’s offer and ordered his execution.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon, East Room, White House, 22 September 1973.
There are many who
list former US National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, Dr Henry Kissinger as among the famous
sycophants (and that would have been quite an achievement in Washington DC, a
city full of the breed) but it’s probably unfair although, in his fascinating relationship
with President Richard Nixon, he certainly aimed to please. Kissinger met with Israeli PM Golda Meir in
1973 and she asked him to pressure Moscow to allow more Soviet Jews to emigrate
to avoid persecution. Nixon, intent on
détente with the USSR, sought to avoid the request. Kissinger, himself Jewish, responded
“…the emigration of Jews from the Soviet
Union is not an objective of American foreign policy and if they put Jews into
gas chambers in Russia, it’s not an American concern… maybe it’s a
humanitarian concern”. Not for nothing is Dr Kissinger thought dean of the school of power-realists.
In David Copperfield, Charles Dickens created one of literature’s most repulsive sycophants, the reptilian Uriah Heep. Dickens, never one to understate his characters, ensures readers will revile Heep by emphasizing his physical creepiness, cadaverous and lanky, with clammy hands and sleepless eyes. Trained in being “umble” by his father, Heep is always quick to affirm his lowly station and abase himself. Chaplain to the Bishop of Barchester, the duplicitous Obadiah Slope in Anthony Trollope’s Barchester Towers, epitomizes the lick up-kick down sycophant, fawning before the powerful, tyrannical towards subordinates. For Australians, one of the real pleasures in reading Barchester Towers is imagining Bronwyn Bishop when picturing the bishop’s wife. Nobody however did it better than Shakespeare in Othello. The play is a roll-call of strategies for ingratiation, subversion, and destruction, as Iago corrupts the mind of the noble Othello. No work in English better shows the devastating personal consequences of sycophancy or so starkly renders its intricate ties to other vices for Shakespeare knew the sycophant is capable of every fraud, every hypocrisy, every deceit.