More than even *I* care about Opinici (was Folklore-question)

[Amanda Lewanski]

lady.nymphaea at faerielands.com wrote:

> > Opinicus
> ?

Two tidbits from my Fox-Davies' Complete Guide to Heraldry:

The Opinicus is another monster seldom met with in armory. When it does
occur it is represented as a winged gryphon, with a lion's legs and a
short tail. Another description of it gives it the body and forelegs of
a lion, the head, neck, and wings of an eagle, and the tail of a camel.
It is the cres of the Livery Company of Barbers in London.....Sometimes
the wings are omitted. (231-232)

The supporters of the Plasterers' Company, granted with the arms on
January 15, 1556, are: "Two opinaci (figures very similar to griffins)
vert pursted (? purfled?) or, beaked sable, the wings gules. (438)

Boutell's Heraldry saith:

The Opinicus has a griffin's head, neck, and wings, a lion's body and a
bear's tail. It is the crest of the Barber-Surgeons' Company of London.
(81)

In Stephen Friar's Dictionary of Heraldry, under "Medical Heraldry" it
says

"The mythical Greek monster, the opinicus, is very similar to the
griffin, but whereas only two of the griffin's legs are those of a lion,
all four of the opinicus are so depicted. Its tail is thin and short,
similar to that of a camel. An opinicus was granted as a crest in 1561
to the Company of Barber Surgeons, but has seldom been granted since.
One recent example is that of the opinicus rampant in the arms of the
British Association of Oral Surgery, granted in 1962." (238)

There's an illustration in the Fox-Davies, and at first glance it's a
griffin without the feathery ears. Then you notice the front legs are
lion legs, not eagle's.

I found nothing on its derivation or meaning or history, save that Friar
says it's a "mythical Greek" monster. Since the griffin is, too, I'm
betting that it derives directly from the griffin (i.e., began life as a
griffin drawn differently from the "classical," and then the differences
were perpetuated [no ears, lion legs] until it got itself a different
term). So it probably does what griffins do.

--Amanda, whose maiden name has just *got* to have been Binns
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