cockatrice n.

fabulous monster, late 14c., from Old French cocatriz, altered (by influence of coq) from Late Latin *calcatrix, from Latin calcare "to tread" (from calx (1) "heel;" see calcaneus), as translation of Greek ikhneumon, literally "tracker, tracer." It was fabled to kill by its glance and could be slain only by tricking it into seeing its own reflection.

In classical writings, an Egyptian animal of some sort, the mortal enemy of the crocodile, which it tracks down and kills. This vague sense became hopelessly confused in the Christian West, and in England the word ended up applied to the equivalent of the basilisk. Popularly associated with cock (n.1), hence the fable that it was a serpent hatched from a cock's egg. It also sometimes was confused with the crocodile. Belief in them persisted even among the educated because the word was used in the KJV several times to translate a Hebrew word for "serpent." In heraldry, a beast half cock, half serpent. Also, in old slang, "a loose woman" (1590s).

词汇	cockatrice
词源	cockatrice n. fabulous monster, late 14c., from Old French cocatriz, altered (by influence of coq) from Late Latin calcatrix, from Latin calcare "to tread" (from calx (1) "heel;" see calcaneus), as translation of Greek ikhneumon, literally "tracker, tracer." It was fabled to kill by its glance and could be slain only by tricking it into seeing its own reflection. In classical writings, an Egyptian animal of some sort, the mortal enemy of the crocodile, which it tracks down and kills. This vague sense became hopelessly confused in the Christian West, and in England the word ended up applied to the equivalent of the basilisk. Popularly associated with cock (n.1), hence the fable that it was a serpent hatched from a cock's egg. It also sometimes was confused with the crocodile. Belief in them persisted even among the educated because the word was used in the KJV several times to translate a Hebrew word for "serpent." In heraldry, a beast half cock, half serpent. Also, in old slang, "a loose woman" (1590s). Entries linking to cockatrice* calcaneus n. "heel-bone," 1751, from Latin (os) calcaneum "bone of the heel," from calcem (nominative calx (1)) "heel," a word of uncertain origin, perhaps from Etruscan. De Vaan lists as possible cognates Old Prussian culczi "hip," Lithuanian kulkšnis "ankle-(bone)," Bulgarian kalka "hip, thigh." Related: Calcaneal. basilisk n. fabulous lizard-like creature, c. 1400, earlier basiliscus (Trevisa, late 14c.), from Latin basiliscus, from Greek basiliskos name of a kind of serpent, also the golden-crested wren, literally "little king," diminutive of basileus "king" (see Basil); said by Pliny to have been so called because of a crest or spot on its head resembling a crown. The basilisk has since the fourteenth century been confused with the Cockatrice, and the subject is now a complicated one. [T.H. White, "The Bestiary. A Book of Beasts," 1954] Its breath and glance were said to be fatal. The South American lizard was so called (1813) because it, like the mythical beast, has a crest. From 1540s as a type of large cannon throwing shot of 200 lb. updated on January 07, 2018
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cockatrice n.

Entries linking to cockatrice