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Posted By: BranShea Fictionary animals. - 04/08/07 06:26 PM
Fictionary animal hunt.
All dictionary words, some of them may be known through mythology-/ litterature, some may just live around the corner or be haunting us in primaeval nightmares.

What's what and where from without looking up. (cheating not checked in this one) Asking family , friends and neighbours is fine. If they know the right answer you can reward them with leftover Easter eggs , almond-paste petit-fours and chocolate chipped jackalope coockies.

I hope some or all will be caught. If not I'll give the whats and whereabouts next Sunday. ( I'm on a Sunday - only prescription, as the business was going down rapidly
Happy Easter all.
(This is not a hogwash, evidently , definitly not, just a little hunt )

The creatures :

1. Jackalope
2. Ethon
3. Grendel------------------------------- Caught
4. Hodag------------- Caught!
5. Fenrir -------close
6. Arachne-------close
7. Naga

Posted By: themilum Re: Fictionary animals. - 04/08/07 06:47 PM
Ooo, ooo, I got one, BranShea!

Hodag: an elusive shy troglodyte who lives in American caves.

Although hodag searches are routine events in caving circles, the only authenticated sightings have been made around campfires late at night, usually after the Jack Daniels bottles are all empty. I've seen several and some of them look like my side-kick Andy.
Posted By: Faldage Re: Fictionary animals. - 04/08/07 09:55 PM
I know jackalopes aren't fictional; I've seen a mounted head of a jackalope. It's an antlered rabbit.

Grendel was the ill-defined antagonist of the Beowulf poem.

Fenrir is something from Norse mythology; a dog, I think.

Arachne was the eponymous spider.
Posted By: Curuinor Re: Fictionary animals. - 04/09/07 02:59 AM
Fenrir was the wolf of the apocalypse, with a mouth the approximate size of the span from ground to tipitty-tops of sky. Naga are hostile fish-men, and jackalopes are jackal antelopes, being very fast and very jackal-y.
Posted By: musick Re: Fictionary animals. - 04/09/07 10:29 PM
Don't forget this little game:

http://wordsmith.org/board/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/162870
Posted By: BranShea Fictionary facts - 04/15/07 06:08 AM
Facts

1. Jackalope
(Carnivora Lepus Anteoculae) is a fictitious cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope (or sometimes a goat or deer), and is usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers. It is also called the called the Antelabbit or "horny bunny". Contrived mounted heads of jackalopes may be for sale in some novelty stores, particularly in the American West and great plains and on the www; postcards with faked photos showing jackalopes are also published. The jackalope story is sometimes used by locals in these areas to play tricks on tourists.

2. Ethon was the eagle that pecked at Prometheus' liver every day as punishment for stealing fire from the gods.

3. Grendel A superhuman monster slain by Beowulf, in the Anglo-Saxon romance of that title. (See Turner's abridgement.). Indeed ill defined but a great devourer of men.

4 Hodag/ Cave Hodag
The smallest hodag of all, the cave hodag seems to be a slight modification or evolutionary successor of the sidehill dodge hodag, with at least three glowing eyes to enable it to see in the dark.It has been spotted across a considerable range of the United States, with sightings in Virginia, Tenessee,Kentucky and the in Missouri In these states, it is limited to areas with caves present, typically those with limstone formations. There are also rumours of possible sightings in the Pyrenee Mountains in Europe.It has been suggested that the sidehill dodge hodag may have retreated to the caves to escape encroaching civilization or logging, perhaps also explaining its migration to these other areas.

5. Fenrir . (Norse mythology) an enormous wolf that was fathered by Loki and that killed Odin

6. Arachne was a woman from Greek mythology. She was a fine weaver who began claiming that her skill was greater than Athena's, the goddess of weaving (among other responsibilities).
Athena was angered, but gave Arachne a chance to redeem herself. Assuming the form of an old woman, she warned Arachne not to offend the gods. Arachne scoffed and wished for a weaving contest, so she could prove her skill. Athena dropped her disguise and the contest began.
Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that inspired the people of Athens to name their city for her. Arachne's tapestry featured Zeus: Zeus being unfaithful with Leda, Zeus being unfaithful with Europa, Zeus being unfaithful with Danae.
Even Athena admitted that Arachne's work was flawless, but was outraged at Arachne's disrespectful choice of subjects. Finally losing her temper, Athena destroyed her tapestry and loom, and struck Arachne on the head. Arachne realized her folly and was crushed with shame. She ran off and hanged herself.
Athena took pity on Arachne. Sprinkling her with the juices of aconite, Athena resurrected her as a spider.

7. Nāga Nāga is the Sanskrit and Pali word for a deity or class of entity or being, taking the form of a very large snake, found in Hinduism and Buddhism The use of the term nāga is often ambiguous, as the word may also refer, in similar contexts, to one of several human tribes known as or nicknamed "Nāgas"; to elephants; and to ordinary snakes, particularly the King Cobra and the Indian Cobra, the latter of which is still called nāg in Hindi and other languages of India. A female nāga is a nāgī.
Posted By: zmjezhd Re: Fictionary facts - 04/15/07 12:00 PM
Snaskrit nāga means 'snake' generically or 'cobra' specifically and nāgi is the feminine form. I have a colleague who is from Nāgapur 'snake town': pura 'fortress, castle, city, town' (as in Siṃhapura 'lion town', siṃha 'lion' > Malay singa) is cognate with Greek πολις (polis as in Neapolis 'Naples' i.e., New Town).
Posted By: Faldage Re: Fictionary facts - 04/15/07 01:07 PM
Hey, Nunc. How's that ṃ pronounced?
Posted By: zmjezhd Re: Fictionary facts - 04/15/07 11:44 PM
How's that ṃ pronounced?

The anusvāra in this case is pronounced like a velar nasal /ŋ/ after a short vowel and before an h.
Posted By: themilum Re: Fictionary facts - 04/16/07 01:00 AM
Originally Posted By: branShea
A female nāga is a nāgī.


Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
Snaskrit nāga means 'snake' generically or 'cobra' specifically and nāgi is the feminine form


Ah yes, zmjezhd, I don't speak Snaskrit, but your repetitious elaboration, I'm sure, pleases all the Snaskritians, wherever they may speak.
Posted By: BranShea Re: Fictionary facts - 04/16/07 06:51 PM
Themilom, this hodag and certainly the cave hodag seems to be the only creature that might, possibly, exist, or something anyway with light-giving eyes. Are you sure no one ever really saw one ?
In deep seas there are animals that give light. Would it not be probably so there are similar ' life forms 'in caves as well?
Posted By: themilum Re: Fictionary facts - 04/17/07 12:51 AM
Code:
"In deep seas there are animals that give light.
 Would it not be probably so there are similar ' life 
forms 'in caves as well?"

Well that depends, BranShea. How flexible are your
 semantic parameters for a Hodag? 

 Thirty years ago I was wading through Gross-Skeleton Cave
 when my carbide light suddenly  went out.
But before I could curse my fate I said "Wow!". 
All around me were hundreds of tiny lights,
 blinking on and off. I was  King Kong standing 
tall but bewildered in a well-lit big city.
 I tried to get a  close look at one of these
 little lights, but as I approached, each 
 would blink off.

  What I saw was, of course, an example 
of bioluminescence; hundreds of little gnat
 sized creatures washed in from the forest outside,
 each blinking  his own light. 
                    
And such a pretty blue-green light.
    
            Back with more in a minute. 
Posted By: BranShea Re: Fictionary facts - 04/17/07 05:52 AM
Hmm, King Kong. My semantic parameters are in no state at all. Certainly not for a hodag on a dinsdag (morning).
Quote:
Thirty years ago I was wading through Gross-Skeleton Cave
when my carbide light suddenly went out.
But before I could curse my fate I said "Wow!".
All around me were hundreds of tiny lights,
blinking on and off. I was King Kong standing
tall but bewildered in a well-lit big city.
I tried to get a close look at one of these
little lights, but as I approached, each
would blink off.

Back in a minute with more


Your report is nice and understandable enough. Pretty blue-green light. I can imagine the scene.

And thanks for making me practise that code stuff again.
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