A Spartan Vocabulary Word

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From the department of bad trivia questions:

What vocabulary word is named after the ancient Spartans?

Of course the obvious answer to this question is the word spartan, meaning "austere, frugal, lacking in decoration and luxury".

But there's another answer that also fits: laconic.

Laconic is a pretty great vocabulary word. The definition of laconic is "pithy and concise; using as few words as possible".

Just how does it relate to the Spartans? The word derives from the region of Lacedaemonia, aka Laconia, where the ancient Spartans lived. And the Spartans, in addition to being fierce warriors and pederasts, were famed for their dry wit, often coming in the form of a one-liner or comeback.

For example, when the Persian emperor Xerxes offered mercy to King Leonidas in exchange for laying down his weapons, Leonidas replied "Μολών λαβέ" - come and take them. Clint Eastwood would have fit in well.

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Level 76
Sep 14, 2016
Did you listen to Dan Carlin's podcast? He talked about this, and even compared the way they talked to Clint Eastwood haha.
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Level ∞
Sep 14, 2016
I did listen to it. I guess I stole this comparison from him. In my defense, I totally forgot about it! In any case, I would highly recommend "Hardcore History" to anyone who likes history and podcasts.
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Level 76
Sep 22, 2016
Yeah, I'm a big fan of his
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Level 35
Sep 14, 2016
There was, and still is, a saying in ancient Greece that goes like this: «το λακωνίζειν εστί φιλοσοφείν»(to lakonizin esti philosophin). And it litteraly means that to ''laconize'' is a philosοphy. By that they meant that brevity is a way of living.
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Level 82
Sep 14, 2016
Most of the lines in the film 300 that audiences deemed most "cheesy," or "unrealistic," similar to what you might expect from an 80s action film (or Dirty Harry movie), were actually lifted directly from Herodotus or other historical accounts.
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Level 34
Jul 9, 2022
There was also another one-

Some greek guy said 'If I reach your kingdom I'll burn it down to the ground'

The spartans replied with 'If'