| ETYMOLOGY: |
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From Middle English fige, fygge (also fyke, from Old English fīc, see fike), from Anglo-Norman figue, from Old Provençal figa, from Vulgar Latin fīca (“fig”), from Latin fīcus (“fig tree”), from a pre-Indo European language, perhaps Phoenician (compare Classical Hebrew פַּגָּה (paggâ, “early fallen fig”), Classical Syriac ܦܓܐ (paggāʾ), dialectal Arabic - (faġġ), - (fiġġ))[1].
Another Semitic root (compare Akkadian - (tīʾu, “fig”)) was borrowed into Ancient Greek as σῦκον (sỹkon) (Boeotian τῦκον (tỹkon)) and Armenian as թուզ (tʿuz); whence English sycophant. |
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