Mid 17th century: from French sardonique, earlier sardonien, via Latin from Greek sardonios 'of Sardinia', alteration of sardanios, used by Homer to describe bitter or scornful laughter.

• The Greek epic poet Homer, of the 8th century bc, used the word sardanios to describe bitter, scornful laughter. Later Greeks and Romans did not really understand the reason for this word and decided it must be sardonios ‘Sardinian’ and refer to a ‘Sardinian plant’ which produced facial convulsions resembling horrible laughter, usually followed by death. English adopted sardonic in the mid 17th century to refer to grimly mocking or cynical smiles, grins, and looks as well as to laughter. The island of Sardinia also gave us the name of the sardine (Late Middle English), the small fish which was once common off its shores—the Latin source of the word, sarda, is probably from the Greek name for the island Sardō.