ABSTRACT
Hypocrisy (Hykleri-noun; hykle-verb; hyklerisk, hyklersk or hykkelsk-adjective; Hykler (masculine, hypocrite)—noun; Hyklerinde (feminine, hypocrite)—noun)
From the Old Danish høykle, derived from medieval Low German huchelen and High German heucheln.1 The lexical meaning in Danish of hypocrisy is (1) the act of presenting oneself in word or deed as better than one really is for the sake of ingratiating oneself or gaining an advantage, especially to present oneself as pious when one is not; (2) to praise others with false, stilted, and inappropriate flattery-to use Guldberg’s example, “one usually flatters [smigrer] equals and subordinatesbut one is hypocritical [hykler] towards superiors in order to gain illegitimate advantages.”2
