NR - Principality name

[Jennifer Smith]

On 12 Sep 00, at 20:27, Marc Carlson wrote:
> Chris Backus wrote
> > What is the origin of the word griffin? ...
> 
> It's an ancient Greek term - the Griffin was thought to
> inhabit Sythia.

Scythia.  Where's a reference for that, Diarmaid?  I couldn't find any in my 
one decent Greek mythology/history book, and I'm curious now. :)

For the etymology-inclined, the Greek word is (in transliterated form) 
"gryps" -- blame Latin for the p->ff transition -- and is derived from the 
adjective "grypos", which means "curved, hook-nosed."  I also note the 
noun "grypaetos", which is a combination of "gryps" and "aetos", meaning 
eagle.  Which makes one wonder -- if "gryps" is a griffin (half lion half 
eagle), then what's a "griffin-eagle"?

-Emma "24+ hours of ancient Greek" de Fetherstan

--
Jennifer Smith
jds-emma at operamail.com
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