sphinx English · revision 845
11 Oct 2026, 00:35 by bogdan “New entry from the dictionary sources (AHD, Barnhart, Etymonline, MW, OED, RHWU, Wiktionary)” current version
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+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /ˈsfɪŋks/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[inh|enm|Spynx]], [[bor|la|Sphinx]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|grc|Σφίγξ|tr=Sphínx]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) said to mean “the strangler”, a back-formation from ''sphíngein'' “to squeeze, bind”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) with reference to the monster that strangled those who could not answer its riddle.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) It is related to [[sphincter]].^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The monster of Greek mythology with a woman's head and a winged lion's body (c. 1421 in Barnhart; 1420–22 in the OED).^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The Sphinx waylaid travellers near Thebes and devoured those who could not answer her riddle, until Oedipus solved it.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) The word was applied from the 1570s to the Egyptian figures with a lion's body and a human or animal head,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and from 1613 specifically to the colossal statue near the pyramids of Giza.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) From about 1600 a ''sphinx'' was also a person or thing of mysterious nature.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The name is given to sphinx moths (1753) and once to a kind of baboon.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 1421 – the Greek mythical monster.^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)
+ * 1579–80 – an Egyptian sphinx figure.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)
+ * c. 1600 – a mysterious person or thing.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)
+ * 1613 – the Great Sphinx of Giza.^(OED 1989)
+ * 1753 – a sphinx moth.^(OED 1989)
+
+ ==Modern meaning==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(Greek mythology)'' A winged monster with a woman's head and a lion's body that killed those who could not answer its riddle.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # In ancient Egypt, a figure of a reclining lion with the head of a man, ram or hawk; especially the great statue near the pyramids of [[Giza]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A mysterious or [[enigmatic]] person.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A [[sphinx moth]].^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[sphinx moth]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[sphincter]]
+ * [[riddle]]
+ * [[enigma]]
+ * [[griffin]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}