St. Johns Wood.
_Sardonic Smiles_ (Vol. iv., p. 18.).--It is very difficult to strike
out the verse in Homer's Odyssey ([Greek: Y], 302.). To suppose that in
him the word is derived from Sardinia, is exceedingly improbable, if
not, as Payne Knight says, quite absurd because, not only is Sardinia
not mentioned in Homer, but his geography, even where half-fabulous, and
with other names than the modern ones, does not extend so far west.
Payne Knight says the word is derived from [Greek: sardainô], but where
such a word is found I cannot learn. There is [Greek: sardazô] in
Suidas, "to laugh bitterly," but unluckily the very same words are given
as the interpretation of [Greek: sarkazô], and [Greek: sarkazô] is a
perfectly established word. _Sarcasm, sarcastic_, are derived from it;
and its own derivation from [Greek: sarx] "flesh," seems certain. This
makes it highly probable that the first word in Suidas is a mistake for
the other. All Greek writers borrowed so much from Homer that the
occurrence of the word in them, where obviously meaning Sardinian,
seems to prove nothing but that they thought it had that meaning in him.