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Posted By: wwh sphinx - 11/03/02 04:06 PM
News to me that it comes from Greek verb meaning to strangle. The circular muscle so
socially indispensible at external lower termination of intestinal tract is called a
sphincter. So the Sphinx was said to kill victims by strangulation.
"sphinx - c.1421, from L. Sphinx, from Gk. Sphinx, lit." the
strangler," a back-formation from sphingein "to squeeze,
bind." Monster, having a lion's (winged) body and a
woman's head, that waylaid travellers around Thebes and
devoured those who could not answer its questions; slain by
Oedipus. The proper plural would be sphinges. "

Posted By: Wordwind Re: sphinx - 11/03/02 11:24 PM
I'm glad this didn't come up when I taught Oedipus Rex.

Posted By: ElizaD Re: sphinx - 01/31/04 08:47 PM
SOED (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary) says the plural is either sphinges or sphinxes. There's a family of butterflies with the name sphinx - "so called from the attitude frequently assumed by the caterpillar". Attitude? A caterpillar with attitude? Must have been reading Alice.

Posted By: wwh Re: sphinx - 01/31/04 09:35 PM
I used to see sphinx moths near my beehives. At times my first thought was that they were hummingbirds. Here's a URL
with a lot of pictures. My vision isn't good enough to see
if there are moths in the pictures.Scroll down 1 inch.
http://uite101.com/article.cfm/butterfly_gardening/77004

Posted By: Faldage Re: sphinx - 02/02/04 01:41 PM
A caterpillar with attitude?

A company I used to work for had a division that made equipment that sensed and controlled the posititioning of orbital satellites. Their motto was 'Attitude is Everything!'

Posted By: wwh Re: sphinx - 02/02/04 01:45 PM
Dear Faldage: I hope you had the Right Attitude.

Posted By: Bingley Re: sphinx - 02/04/04 07:54 AM
Correction to Dr. Bill's url: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/butterfly_gardening/77004

Bingley
Posted By: wwh Re: sphinx - 02/04/04 03:08 PM
Thanks, Bingley. I don't understand how the link got
mangled. Thanks for correcting it.

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