Liddell-Scott-Jones

συκοφάντης (sukophantēs) an extortioner ^G:N-M

συκοφάντης-ης, ου, ὁ,

common informer, voluntary denouncer (there being no Public Prosecutor), e.g. of contraband imports, καὶ σ. εἴ τις ἦν ὠνείδισας; did you dare to reproach a ς.? [Refs 5th c.BC+]; of unlawful possession, [Refs]; of disaffection to Athens, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; κλητήρ εἰμι νησιωτικὸς καὶ σ. [Refs 5th c.BC+]; the ς. became notorious as pettifoggers, [Refs 5th c.BC+], vexatious prosecutors of innocent persons especially if rich, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; they were numerous in democracies, [Refs 4th c.BC+]; χρῆν.. ἐγγίγνεσθαι.. πάσῃ δημοκρατίᾳ σ. [Refs 1st c.AD+]; δημαγωγῶν πλῆθος καὶ σ. at Syracuse, [Refs 1st c.BC+]; rarer in oligarchies, e.g. Boeotia, [Refs 5th c.BC+]; βασιλεὺς ἐνδεὴς προσόδων μέγας σ. a great extortioner, [LXX]

__2 in New Comedy texts, professional swindler or confidential agent, πράττει δ᾽ ὁ κόλαξ ἄριστα πάντων, δεύτερα ὁ σ. [Refs 4th c.BC+]: so in Latin sycophanta, [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; humbug, [Refs 2nd c.AD+]
__3 = Latin delator, ὁ πικρὸς σ. Ἰσίδωρος [Refs 1st c.AD+], originally used of denouncers of the attempted export of figs from Athens, accusative to [Refs 3rd c.BC+]; originally of citizens entrusted with the collection of figs as part of the public revenues of Athens and the denouncing of tax-evaders, accusative to [Refs]; of denouncers of figs which had been stolen from the sacred fig-trees during a famine and had become cheap, the famine having passed, [Refs 5th c.BC+]

_{LSJ Scripture Refs: LXX.Prov.28.16}