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→English: The long accepted, and actually ONLY etymology to this date is the Greek one. I can refere you to all lexicons, thesaurus, ancient authors, modern authors. What's your reference? A single 2017 egyptian author with fantastic probality theory? |
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===Etymology=== |
===Etymology=== |
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[[Image:Sphinx of Gizeh.jpg|thumb|right|The great Sphinx of Giza]] |
[[Image:Sphinx of Gizeh.jpg|thumb|right|The great Sphinx of Giza]] |
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<div>From {{etyl|enm|en}} {{m|enm|Spynx}}, from {{etyl|la|en}} {{m|la|Sphinx}}, from {{etyl|grc|en}} {{m|grc|Σφίγξ}}. |
<div>From {{etyl|enm|en}} {{m|enm|Spynx}}, from {{etyl|la|en}} {{m|la|Sphinx}}, from {{etyl|grc|en}} {{m|grc|Σφίγξ}}. |
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===Pronunciation=== |
===Pronunciation=== |
Revision as of 23:29, 2 October 2017
See also: Sphinx
English
Etymology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Sphinx_of_Gizeh.jpg/220px-Sphinx_of_Gizeh.jpg)
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English Spynx, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin Sphinx, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx).
Pronunciation
- enPR: sfĭngks, (deprecated use of
|lang=
parameter) IPA(key): /sfɪŋks/ - (deprecated use of
|lang=
parameter)Audio (US): (file) - (deprecated use of
|lang=
parameter) Rhymes: -ɪŋks
Noun
sphinx (plural sphinxes or sphinges)
- (mythology) A creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal (commonly a lion).
- Shelley
- Sculptured on alabaster obelisk, / Or jasper tomb, or mutilated sphinx […]
- Shelley
- A person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret; an enigmatic person.
- Cynocephalus sphinx, a kind of baboon.
- A sphinx moth.
- (rare) A sphincter.
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 836:
- Constance said boastfully, ‘My sphinxes are strong and in good repair. I order you to come.’
- 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 836:
Synonyms
- (person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret): enigma
Derived terms
Hyponyms
Translations
mythology: creature with the head of a person and the body of an animal
|
person who keeps his/her thoughts and intentions secret
See also
Verb
sphinx (third-person singular simple present sphinxes, present participle sphinxing, simple past and past participle sphinxed)
- To decorate with sphinxes
- a marble sphinxed chimney-piece
- To adopt the posture of the Sphinx.
- A hot lion with a very bloated stomach ... will adopt either a sphinxed or a squatting posture which takes some of the weight off its belly.
- Several animals maintained either a crouched ... or a sphinxing posture (abdomen on the floor)
- To be inscrutable, often through silence
- (1900) The sphinxèd riddle of the Universe / Nature's unsolved enigma, who may prove?
- (1933) Janet Gaynor, so they tell, is sphinxing it and has gone into a Retirement, with "Nothing to Say — Please Go Away" written on the doormat.
- (1934) The men of science will climb grassy hillsides of [Easter] island to peer at hundreds of great stone faces that have so far out-sphinxed the sphinx in determined silence about the past.
- (1954) "What are you two sphinxing about?" said Jessica, but her husband said Never mind
- (1964) What with Fisher whole-hogging on one side, and K. of K. sphinxing on the other, Churchill had his work cut out to get any sort of agreement at all.
- To make one guess at the unknowable
- (1933) Perhaps Nature is sphinxing us on purpose. Whatever her objects may be, perhaps she gets her work done better when she appeals to our gambling instincts. If you knew for certain exactly how your marriage was going to turn out ...
- To befuddle
- (2010) She swiveled and sphinxed Giles. 'And you, I suppose you've never been here either?' Giles squirmed. 'Well, I – that is, Miss Wh—, I mean, Miss Taylor, I –' He looked to me for rescue.
- For the feminine to co-opt, dominate, or devour the masculine, especially from a paranoid fear of this happening
- (1986) modernism's fears of being sphinxed by a feminized mass culture
French
Etymology
Borrowed from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin sphinx.
Pronunciation
- (deprecated use of
|lang=
parameter) IPA(key): /sfɛ̃ks/
Noun
sphinx m (plural sphinx)
Further reading
- “sphinx”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /spʰinks/, [s̠pʰɪŋks̠]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /sfinks/, [sfiŋks]
Noun
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Inflection
References
- sphinx in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- “sphinx”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[1]
- “sphinx”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “sphinx”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɪŋks
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- en:Mythology
- English terms with rare senses
- English verbs
- en:Mythological creatures
- French terms derived from Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French nouns
- French countable nouns
- French masculine nouns
- Latin 1-syllable words
- Latin terms with IPA pronunciation
- la:Mythological creatures
- en:People