Laconically

As laconically ( Greek. Λακωνικός Lakonikos , lat. Laconicus ) describes a succinct but apt, dry, unadorned expression, which as characteristic of the inhabitants of Laconia (d. H. Spartas was). Derived from this, laconism is "[the] linguistic form of significant sobriety".

origin

Laconia is a region of the Peloponnese in ancient Greece , which was settled by the taciturn Spartans.

After the defeat of Kyzikos , the Spartans sent home a battle report which was laughed at as typically laconic by the Athenians who intercepted it:

“Boats lost. Mindaros dead. Men are hungry. Don't know what to do. "

When Philip II of Macedonia approached with his army on another occasion, according to legend, he sent the following threat to the laconic capital Sparta :

"When I defeat you, your houses will burn, your cities will be on fire, and your wives will be widows."

To which the Spartans replied:

"If."

Related terms

The following terms, which are related to the adjective 'laconic', are mainly used in upscale or educational language or are out of date:

Lacony, laconic: lack of words
Laconism: a short but accurate statement; a brevity of expression
laconize: express yourself briefly and accurately

swell

Dieter Baer (editor); Scientific advice of the Duden editorial team (ed.): Duden. The big foreign dictionary. [Origin and meaning of the foreign words]. 4th, updated edition, Dudenverlag, Mannheim / Leipzig / Vienna / Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-411-04164-0 (with a CD-ROM for Windows, MacOS, Linux).
Robert Bees: Laconism. In: Historical dictionary of rhetoric . Edited by Gert Ueding . Vol. 5: L – Musi. Scientific book company, Darmstadt 2001, ISBN 978-3-484-68105-7 , Sp. 17-23.

Web links

Wiktionary: laconic - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

^ Theodor W. Adorno : Afterword. In: Walter Benjamin : German people. A series of letters . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-458-16003-5 , pp. 123–129, here p. 128.
↑ Xenophon , Hellenika 1,1,23 ; Plutarch , Alkibiades 28.6 .
↑ In Plutarch, On the talkativeness / ἀδολεσχίας Περὶ so reproduced: "πάλιν γράψαντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Φιλίππου, ἂν ἐμβάλω εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, ἀναστάτους ὑμᾶς ποιήσω 'ἀντέγραψαν, αἴκα'" as: "When they wrote Philip, When I in Laconia invade, I will make you refugees', they wrote back: 'If.' "

[1] Theodor W. Adorno : Afterword. In: Walter Benjamin : German people. A series of letters . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-458-16003-5 , pp. 123–129, here p. 128.

[2] Xenophon , Hellenika 1,1,23 ; Plutarch , Alkibiades 28.6 .

[3] In Plutarch, On the talkativeness / ἀδολεσχίας Περὶ so reproduced: "πάλιν γράψαντος αὐτοῖς τοῦ Φιλίππου, ἂν ἐμβάλω εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, ἀναστάτους ὑμᾶς ποιήσω 'ἀντέγραψαν, αἴκα'" as: "When they wrote Philip, When I in Laconia invade, I will make you refugees', they wrote back: 'If.' "