harpy English · revision 792

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈhɑːpi/ ''(UK)''; /ˈhɑɹpi/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|arpie]],^(Barnhart 1995) [[bor|fro|harpie]],^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) [[der|la|harpȳia]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(Hoad 1986) [[der|grc|ἅρπυια|tr=hárpuia]], plural ''hárpuiai'', literally “snatchers”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) probably related to ''harpázein'' “to snatch, seize”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A monster of Greek and Roman mythology, part woman and part bird (about 1375 in Barnhart; late 14th century in Etymonline; 1540 in the OED).^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Homer the harpies were personified storm winds that carried off people who had vanished; in Hesiod they were fair-haired winged maidens; and later writers made them disgusting monsters with maidens' heads, faces pale with hunger and birds' claws.^(Etymonline) The figurative sense, a rapacious or grasping person, appears about 1400,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and later the word was applied to a shrewish, nagging woman.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) From 1838 it also names birds of prey, such as the ''harpy eagle''.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * about 1375 – the mythological monster.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * about 1400 – a rapacious person.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1572 – a figure of a harpy in heraldry.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1838 – the harpy eagle; the moor buzzard.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Greek and Roman mythology)'' One of several loathsome, voracious monsters with a woman's head and body and a bird's wings and claws.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A greedy, [[predatory]] person.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[shrewish]] or bad-tempered woman.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Any of several large birds of prey, especially the [[harpy eagle]].^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[harpylike]]

+ * [[harpy eagle]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[rapacious]]

+ * [[harpoon]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}