strix

See also: Strix

English

Etymology

From Latin strix, from Ancient Greek στρίγξ (strínx) “screecher”.

Noun

strix (plural strixes or striges)

1. (mythology) A bird-like demon feeding on human flesh and blood.
   • 2017, Ronald Hutton, The Witch, Yale University Press 2018, p. 69:

     What was distinctive about the strix was that […] it resembled an owl, or (to a lesser extent) a bat, being a winged, clawed creature, which flew by night and had a hideous screeching cry.

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /striks/, [s̠t̪rɪks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /striks/, [st̪riks]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“line”). See stringō.

Noun

strix f (genitive strigis); third declension

1. channel, groove, furrow

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	strix	strigēs
Genitive	strigis	strigum
Dative	strigī	strigibus
Accusative	strigem	strigēs
Ablative	strige	strigibus
Vocative	strix	strigēs

Derived terms

• strīga

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek στρίξ (stríx, “screecher”).

Noun

strix f (genitive strigis); third declension

1. screech owl, believed to suck the blood of young children
2. (by extension) witch

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	strix	strigēs
Genitive	strigis	strigum
Dative	strigī	strigibus
Accusative	strigem	strigēs
Ablative	strige	strigibus
Vocative	strix	strigēs

Derived terms

• strīga

Descendants

• English: strigine
• Esperanto: strigo
• Ido: strigo
• Italian: strige
• Portuguese: estrige
• Spanish: estrige

References

• “strix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “strix”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• strix in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.