Etymologically
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harpyia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [harˈpyj.ja][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [arˈpiː.ja][1]

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]

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