Hypocrisy
“A number of different things might pop to mind when we hear the word hypocrite. Maybe it’s a politician caught in a scandal; maybe it’s a religious leader doing something counter to their creed; maybe it’s a scheming and conniving character featured in soap operas. But it’s likely that the one thing that doesn’t come to mind is the theatre” (Merriam-Webster).
Hypocrisy is about acting. The word hypocrisy comes from ancient Greek hypokrinesthai (to play a part, to pretend) and hypokrisis (acting on the stage; pretense). Actors in Greek plays wore masks to indicate the role that they were playing. The actor ‘under’ the mask (Greek hypo = under) was not the character which they were embodying in the drama.
By around 1200, the word ipocrisie (the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness), now hypocrisy (the ‘h’ shows up in the 16th century), had come to English. “Hypocrisy is the art of affecting qualities for the purpose of pretending to an undeserved virtue” Online Etymological Dictionary.
The word hypocrite (false pretender to virtue or religion), from Greek hypocrite (an actor), also comes to English around 1200. In the 13th century, a hypocrite was someone who pretended to be morally good or pious in order to deceive others. By the early 1700s, hypocrite was used to mean a person who acts in contradiction to their stated beliefs or feelings.
How can we describe the hypocritical actions of such hypocrites? If they don’t know they’re playing a role or speaking a script written by others, it would seem that they are woefully ignorant or naive. If they do know they are playing a role, then they are clearly conning or manipulating people. The difference between such hypocritical activity and actual theatre acting is that we know and the actors know that they are acting.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/hypocrite-meaning-origin
Hypocrisy is about acting. The word hypocrisy comes from ancient Greek hypokrinesthai (to play a part, to pretend) and hypokrisis (acting on the stage; pretense). Actors in Greek plays wore masks to indicate the role that they were playing. The actor ‘under’ the mask (Greek hypo = under) was not the character which they were embodying in the drama.
By around 1200, the word ipocrisie (the sin of pretending to virtue or goodness), now hypocrisy (the ‘h’ shows up in the 16th century), had come to English. “Hypocrisy is the art of affecting qualities for the purpose of pretending to an undeserved virtue” Online Etymological Dictionary.
The word hypocrite (false pretender to virtue or religion), from Greek hypocrite (an actor), also comes to English around 1200. In the 13th century, a hypocrite was someone who pretended to be morally good or pious in order to deceive others. By the early 1700s, hypocrite was used to mean a person who acts in contradiction to their stated beliefs or feelings.
How can we describe the hypocritical actions of such hypocrites? If they don’t know they’re playing a role or speaking a script written by others, it would seem that they are woefully ignorant or naive. If they do know they are playing a role, then they are clearly conning or manipulating people. The difference between such hypocritical activity and actual theatre acting is that we know and the actors know that they are acting.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/hypocrite-meaning-origin
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