Laconic

AHD defines laconic as “using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.” The word originates in the Greek word Lakōn, meaning “a Spartan” (AHD). The Latin word Lacōnicus, from which our modern English word derives, comes from the Greek word Lakōnikos (AHD). The word comes to mean “terse or concise” from the Spartan tendency towards brevity and austerity (AHD). Spartans were well-known among the ancients for saying few words. As early as 1589, a person who uses few words is said to be “laconic” (OED.com).