sphinx Latin · revision 4264

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus|origins=grc Σφίγξ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈspʰɪŋks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈsfiŋks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sphinx''' ''f'' (genitive sphingis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|Σφίγξ|tr=Sphínx|t=Sphinx]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) The Greek name is perhaps from [[m|grc|σφίγγω|tr=sphíngō|t=to squeeze, strangle]], or perhaps from [[egy|šzp-ꜥnḫ|t=living image]].^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, in the Poenulus, says an Oedipus is needed, who was the Sphinx's interpreter.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a monster of Egyptian origin with a human head and a lion's body, above all the Sphinx of Thebes, which killed those who could not solve its riddle until Oedipus did.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It was also a statue of such a monster, as the Great Sphinx described by Pliny the Elder, and Suetonius says Augustus first sealed documents with a sphinx.^(OLD 2012) Mela and Pliny use it of an animal of Ethiopia, apparently an ape.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In medieval Latin it was still a half-human monster and a kind of monkey.^(DMLBS) Köbler adds a medieval sense of a kind of carp.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus mentions the Sphinx's riddle.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of an Ethiopian ape.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes the Great Sphinx.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|sphinx]], a monster with a human head and a lion's body, especially the Sphinx of Thebes.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A statue of a sphinx.^(OLD 2012)

+ # An Ethiopian ape.^(OLD 2012)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[sphingatus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|sphinx]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}