We have latin sardonicus and grk. sardonios (whose ancient form, sardanios, has obscure origins) . Since the ancient times there are some explanations for this sardonic smile, which is also present in Portuguese ( riso sardônico). One of the hypotheses is that sardanios is related with the adjective sardonios (from Sardeña) since there would be a plant from this Island whose properties could make people laugh. In the XVI century Paré made this version even more famous: L'apium risus, autrement appellé sardonia, espèce de ranunculus, rend les hommes insensés... en sorte qu'il semble que le malade rie, dont est venu en proverbe sardonien, pour un ris malheureux et mortel. In french it was called then ris sadornic (today ris sadornique)
Klaus.
Michael J Smith <lookwhoscross-eyednow@...> wrote:
Hi does anyone know what the native Iberian, Celtiberianor if not
Latin name of the plant that Strabo mentions the Iberians extracted
poison from to give them quick death...resulting in jaw contraction that
gave the dead person's face a "sardonic" smile?
Anyone know what particular Iberian tribes mainly used this poison?
-Michael
________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.
Yahoo! Mail - o melhor webmail do Brasil. Saiba mais!