Myth & LegendGreek → English
Griffin
/ˈɡrɪfɪn/noun
A mythical beast with an eagle's head and wings on a lion's body.
The Greek roots
γρύψ
grýps
griffin, hook-beaked one
Literally: “the hook-beaked”
Follow a root:γρύψ1 word
The story of the word
Γρύψ appears to belong with γρυπός, hooked or curved, the adjective used of a beaked nose. Herodotus places gold-guarding griffins in the far north, beyond the Issedones, fighting one-eyed Arimaspians for the metal. The creature reached Greek art from Near Eastern models long before Greek writers explained it, and the modern suggestion that the image began with fossil skeletons on the Central Asian gold routes is argued rather than settled.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
gryphonhippogriffgriffon
In a sentence
A griffin held up one corner of the college crest.