Both the concept and the etymology of the root word "sardonic" are of uncertain origin, but appear to stem from the
Mediterranean island of
Sardinia. The 10th-century
Byzantine Greek encyclopedia
Suda traces the word's earliest roots to the notion of grinning () in the face of danger, or curling one's lips back at evil. One explanation for the later alteration to its more familiar form and connection to laughter (supported by the
Oxford English Dictionary) appears to stem from an ancient belief that ingesting the
sardonion (σαρδόνιον) plant from
Sardinia (Σαρδώ) would result in convulsions resembling laughter and, ultimately, death. In
Theory and History of Folklore,
Vladimir Propp discusses alleged examples of ritual laughter accompanying death and killing, all involving groups. These he characterized as sardonic laughter: Among the very ancient
people of Sardinia, who were called
Sardi or
Sardoni, it was customary to kill old people. While killing their old people, the Sardi laughed loudly. This is the origin of notorious sardonic laughter (Eugen Fehrle, 1930). In light of our findings things begin to look different. Laughter accompanies the passage from death to life; it creates life and accompanies birth. Consequently, laughter accompanying killing transforms death into a new birth, nullifies murder as such, and is an act of piety that transforms death into a new life. A root form may first appear in
Homer's
Odyssey as the
Ancient Greek sardánios, altered by influence of the word
Sardonios (Σαρδονιος, "
Sardinian"), From the evolved the , thence the , and ultimately the modern English adjectival form,
sardonic. This plant is the candidate for the "sardonic herb", which was a
neurotoxic plant used perhaps for the
ritual killing of elderly people in
pre-Roman Sardinia. When these people were unable to support themselves, they were
intoxicated with this herb and then dropped from a high rock or beaten to death. ==
Risus sardonicus==