Sycophant

In a modern context a sycophant (from the Greek συκοφάντης sykophántēs) is a servile person who, acting in his or her own self-interest, attempts to win favor by flattering one or more influential persons, or by saying lies against a fellow citizen for gaining a kind of profit. These actions are executed at the cost of his or her own personal pride, principles, and peer respect. Such a manner is also called obsequiousness.

In ancient Greece the word was the Athenian counterpart of the Roman delator, a public informer. In modern Greek the term has retained its ancient classical meaning, and is still used to describe a slanderer or a calumniator.

Etymology
Sycophant is a Greek word that suggests someone who brings all kinds of charges and proves none, according to a client of Demosthenes (Demos. Ivii.34). A client of Lysias adds the perspective of blackmail: 'It is their practice to bring charges even against those who have done no wrong. For from these they would gain most profit (Lysias, xxv.3). In this context the word entails false accusation, malicious prosecution and abuse of legal process for mischievous or fraudulent purposes.

According to ancient authorities, the word (derived by them from συκος sykos, "fig", and φανης fanēs, "to show") meant one who informed against another for exporting figs or for stealing the fruit of the sacred fig trees, whether in time of famine or on any other occasion (Plutarch, Life of Solon, 24, 2.). The Oxford English Dictionary, however, states that this explanation, though common, "cannot be substantiated," and suggests that it may refer instead to the insulting gesture of "making a fig" or to an obscene alternate meaning for sykon as cunt.

Another old explanation was that fines and taxes were at one time paid in apples, wine and oil, and those who collected such payments in kind were often called sycophants because they publicly handed them in.