n. 鸟身女妖;残酷贪婪的人
harpy 鸟身女妖
一种希腊神话中的人头鸟身女妖,字面意思为掠食者,劫掠者,来自PIE*rep,抓住,撕开,词源同rip,rob,rupture.拼写比较其同源词usurp.
In Homer they are merely personified storm winds, who were believed to have carried off any person that had suddenly disappeared. In Hesiod they are fair-haired and winged maidens who surpass the winds in swiftness, and are called Aello and Ocypete; but in later writers they are represented as disgusting monsters, with heads like maidens, faces pale with hunger, and claws like those of birds. The harpies ministered to the gods as the executors of vengeance. ["American Cyclopædia," 1874]