Harpie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A legendary monster in Greek and Roman mythology depicted as a woman's head and torso combined with the wings and body of a bird
2. A creature from classical mythology having a woman's face and upper body attached to the wings and lower body of a large predatory bird
3. A winged creature from ancient myth portrayed as a hybrid of a human female and an eagle or vulture

Etymology: In Greek myth, the harpies were not the screeching bird-women of later art but wind spirits who seized things and people and carried them away. Their name, "harpyia," comes from "harpazein," meaning "to snatch" or "seize." Homer mentions them carrying off the daughters of Pandareus, and in Greek thought they were the agents of sudden, unexplained loss. The word reached English through Latin "harpyia" and Old French "harpie." Its sense of a grasping, rapacious person developed from the creatures' habit of snatching what was not theirs. Spelled "harpie" in some early English texts, it kept the same core meaning, a figure of greed and violent taking.

Synonyms: harpy, shrew