cockatrice

  

cock·a·trice

[kok-uh-tris]
noun
1.
a legendary monster with a deadly glance, supposedly hatched by a serpent from the egg of a cock, and commonly represented with the head, legs, and wings of a cock and the body and tail of a serpent. Compare basilisk ( def 1 ).
2.
a venomous serpent. Isa. 11:8.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English cocatrice < Middle French cocatris < Medieval Latin caucātrīces (plural), Latin *calcātrīx (see -trix), feminine of *calcātor tracker, equivalent to calcā(re) to tread, verbal derivative of calx heel + -tor -tor; rendering Greek ichneúmon ichneumon

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
cockatrice (ˈkɒkətrɪs, -ˌtraɪs) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  a legendary monster, part snake and part cock, that could kill with a glance
2.  another name for basilisk
 
[C14: from Old French cocatris, from Medieval Latin cocatrix, from Late Latin calcātrix trampler, tracker (translating Greek ikhneumonichneumon), from Latin calcāre to tread, from calx heel]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cockatrice
late 14c., from O.Fr. cocatris, altered by influence of coq from L.L. *calcatrix, from L. calcare "to tread" (from calx (1) "heel"), as translation of Gk. ikhneumon, lit. "tracker, tracer." In classical writings, an Egyptian animal of some sort, the mortal enemy of the crocodile, which it tracks down
and kills. This vague sense became hopelessly confused in the Christian West, and in England the word ended up applied to the equivalent of the basilisk (q.v.). A serpent hatched from a cock's egg, it was fabled to kill by its glance and could only be slain by tricking it into seeing its own reflection. Belief in them persisted even among the educated because the word was used in the KJV several times to translate a Heb. word for "serpent." In heraldry, half cock, half serpent. Identified variously with the basilisk and the crocodile.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Easton
Bible Dictionary

Cockatrice definition


the mediaeval name (a corruption of "crocodile") of a fabulous serpent supposed to be produced from a cock's egg. It is generally supposed to denote the cerastes, or "horned viper," a very poisonous serpent about a foot long. Others think it to be the yellow viper (Daboia xanthina), one of the most dangerous vipers, from its size and its nocturnal habits (Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17; in all which the Revised Version renders the Hebrew _tziph'oni_ by "basilisk"). In Prov. 23:32 the Hebrew _tzeph'a_ is rendered both in the Authorized Version and the Revised Version by "adder;" margin of Revised Version "basilisk," and of Authorized Version "cockatrice."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

cockatrice

in the legends of Hellenistic and Roman times, a small serpent, possibly the Egyptian cobra, known as a basilikos ("kinglet") and credited with powers of destroying all animal and vegetable life by its mere look or breath. Only the weasel, which secreted a venom deadly to the cockatrice, was safe from its powers

Learn more about cockatrice with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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