I don’t know what it is with me and words/names that start with “Sar” lately, but anyway…

Sardonic
sar·don·ic [sahr-don-ik]
-adjective
characterized by bitter or scornful derision; mocking; cynical; sneering; a sardonic grin.

The word is traced to 1638 and the French Sardonique, however it stems farther back to the Greek Sardonios or “Sardinian” because the Greeks believed that eating Sardonion, a plant whose name literally means “from Sardinia” caused facial convulsions consistent with those of sardonic laughter, usually followed by death.

Now you may be used to the facial convulsions induced by other plants, but that Sardonion must have been interesting stuff. I’d be willing to bet you can still get it in Nevada, but unfortunately my eBay search for Sardonion was fruitless. And speaking of fruit, it seems that, you guessed it, the word Sardine likely also shares the same Greek roots, however, there are references to the fish sardinos as far back as Aristotle, and it has been posited that the Greeks would not have gone as far as Sardinia to obtain fish at that relatively early stage. Duhhh. You’ll have to debate it at length amongst yourselves, you closet ichthyologists.

Source:
“sardonic.” Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 29 Aug. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sardonic>.