2015-08-25

prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
2015-08-25 07:47 am

hieracosphinx

hieracosphinx - n., a sphinx with the head of a hawk.


With the usual body of a lion. This is another Herodotus coinage for describing Egyptian religious sculpture (from Greek hierax, hawk). Unlike the criosphinx, the hieracosphinx was adopted by European heraldry, though not as a common charge.

---L.