[HPforGrownups] Re: Hippogriff or Griffin?

[Jen Faulkner]

No: HPFGUIDX 14429

Indigo wrote:

<snip descriptions of hippogriff and griffin>

> From which I gather the "Griff" part is the eagle part of the animal 
> and the "hippo" part of the animal is the horse because:
> 
> Hippocampus:
> 
> Horse head and forelegs,  sea-serpent tail.

The 'griff' part really is the griffin, though it basically refers to
the bird part; the 'hippo' part is the horse; and the 'campus' of the
hippocampus is the sea-monster part.  (Griffin is ultimately derived
from the Greek word grups, which means 'griffin'; no derivation for
'grups' is given in the LSJ (the big Greek dictionary).  The Greek word
can also refer to a bird called a Lämmergeier, the largest European bird
of prey, a big vulture with a wingspan of nine to ten feet, which drops
tortoise shells and bones from a great height to break them open and eat
the contents and is thus known as an ossifrage -- so probably not quite
the same as an eagle, but large bird of prey nonetheless.)

--jen, always good for etymologies :)

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