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WonderWord origin

'Sarcasm' comes from the ancient Greek verb sarkazein, 'to tear flesh', from sarx, 'flesh'. The verb came to mean biting one's lip in anger and sneering, which is how a cutting remark got its name.

Etymology

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The Greek noun sarkasmos passed through Latin into English, where it is first recorded in 1579, in the Latin form sarcasmus, in a note to Edmund Spenser's poem The Shepheardes Calender. The adjective 'sarcastic' took more than a century longer, first appearing in 1695. The root sarx also lives on in 'sarcophagus', a stone coffin, from a Greek phrase meaning 'flesh-eating stone', after a limestone believed to break down bodies quickly. English describes sharp words with physical images too, as in a cutting remark or biting wit. Linguists usually separate sarcasm from irony: a situation can be ironic, but only a person can be sarcastic, and sarcasm is aimed at someone, often by saying the opposite of what is meant.

Türkçe oku
Sarkazm sözcüğü, eski Yunancada “eti parçalamak” anlamına gelen sarkazein fiilinden gelir; kökünde “et” demek olan sarx vardır. Fiil zamanla öfkeyle dudak ısırmak ve alay etmek anlamlarını da kazandı; iğneleyici söz de adını buradan aldı.

Yunanca sarkasmos sözcüğü Latince üzerinden Avrupa dillerine yayıldı. İngilizcede ilk kez 1579'da, sarcasmus biçiminde, Edmund Spenser'ın The Shepheardes Calender adlı şiir kitabına düşülmüş bir notta görülür; Türkçeye ise Fransızca sarcasme'dan geçti. Aynı sarx kökü, Batı dillerinde taş tabut, yani lahit anlamına gelen sarcophagus sözcüğünde de yaşar. Bu sözcük “et yiyen taş” demektir ve içine konan bedenleri çabucak çürüttüğüne inanılan bir kireçtaşından gelir. Türkçe de keskin sözleri bedensel imgelerle anlatır: iğnelemek, laf sokmak, dokundurmak. Dilbilimciler sarkazmı ironiden ayırır: Bir durum ironik olabilir, ama sarkastik olan her zaman bir insandır. Sarkazm birini hedef alır ve çoğu zaman söylenenin tersini kasteder.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Sarcasm
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