harpyia

Forms

harpyia f (genitive harpyiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἅρπυια (Hárpuia, “Harpy”),^[2][3][1] a name Georges renders as “snatcher”.^[2] Köbler sets the Greek word beside Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to snatch”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Virgil,^[3] who in the third book of the Aeneid describes the Harpies of the Strophades as having a woman's head and a bird's body.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In verse it is scanned with three syllables.^[4][2] The OLD notes that Hesiod made the harpies three.^[4] Horace and Hyginus mention them,^[2] and later writers used the word of a rapacious person: Sidonius Apollinaris, and Rutilius Namatianus, who scans it with four syllables.^[2]

Medieval writers in Britain retold the classical picture of birds with maidens' faces and greedy claws,^[5] and used the harpies as an image of avarice: John of Garland makes the three harpies three vices.^[5]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil describes the Harpies in the Aeneid.^[4][2][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace mentions them in the Satires.^[2][3]
• c. 417 AD – Rutilius Namatianus applies the name to a rapacious man.^[2][3]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses it of a greedy person.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mythology, chiefly plural) A harpy, a monster with a woman's head and a bird's body.^[4][2][1]
2. (figurative) A rapacious, grasping person.^[2][1]

Related words

• English harpy

Usage notes

The OLD and Georges write it with a capital, Harpȳia.^[4][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press