Editing Manticore (section)

==Etymology==
The English-language term ''manticore'' comes via [[Latin]] ''mantichorās''<ref>[[Karl Ernst Georges]]: ''Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch.'' 8th ed., Hannover, 1918, vol. 2, col. 802, s.v. ''mantichorās''. ([http://www.zeno.org/Georges-1913/A/mantichoras])</ref><ref>[[Félix Gaffiot]]: ''Dictionnaire latin-français.'' 1934, p. 974. ([http://micmap.org/dicfro/introduction/gaffiot] → [http://micmap.org/dicfro/search/gaffiot/mantichoras])</ref> from [[Ancient Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[wikt:en:μαρτιχόρας|μαρτιχόρας]]}} (martikhórās).<ref name="lsj-martichoras">Cf. [[Henry Liddell|Henry George Liddell]] & [[Robert Scott (philologist)|Robert Scott]], ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', {{LSJ|martixo/ras|μαρτιχόρας}}</ref> This in turn is a transliteration of an [[Old Persian]] [[compound word]] consisting of ''martīya'' 'man' and ''x<sup>u</sup>ar-'' stem, 'to eat' (Mod. {{langx|fa|{{linktext|مرد}}}}; ''mard'' + {{lang|fa|{{linktext|خوردن}}}}; ''khordan'');{{efn|Early [[Middle Persian]] {{lang|pal|مارتیا}} {{transliteration|pal|mardya}} "man" (as in human) and {{lang|pal|خوار}} {{transliteration|pal|khowr-}} "to eat"}}<ref>&lt;Old Persian ''martijaqâra'' according to the ''[[New English Dictionary|NED]]'', apud {{harvp|McCulloch|1962}}, p. 142 n103</ref><ref name="OED"/><ref name="ebergart-manticora"/> i.e., man-eater.

An early account of the manticore and of its naming occurs in [[Indica (Ctesias) | ''Indica'']] by [[Ctesias]],<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Khanna
 |first1               = Rakesh
 |last2                = Bhairav
 |first2               = J. Furcifer
 |year                 = 2023
 |orig-date            = 2020
 |title                = Ghosts, Monsters and Demons of India
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=ACq6EAAAQBAJ
 |publication-place    = London
 |publisher            = Watkins Media Limited
 |isbn                 = 9781786788306
 |access-date          = 26 May 2025
 |quote                = Ctesias wrote about the Manticore in his book Indica. He claimed to have seen a live, caged specimen that was brought by an Indian dignitary from his homeland and displayed at court in Persepolis [...].
}}
</ref>
a Greek physician of the 5th century BC who worked at the Persian court during the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid dynasty]]. Ctesias based his report on the testimonies of his Persian-speaking informants who had travelled to India. He recorded the Persian-language name of the beast as ''martichora'' ({{lang|grc|μαρτιχόρα}}), which translated into Greek as ''androphagon''<ref name="aelian"/> or ''anthropophagon'' ({{lang|grc|ἀνθρωποφάγον}}),<ref name="photius-baehr-ed"/> i.e., "man-eater".<ref name="stoneman2021"/><ref name="lsj-martichoras"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"| [[Edward Topsell]] noted in 1607 that '''mantichora''', otherwise known as '''''martiora''''', "in the Persian tongue signifieth a devourer of men".{{sfnp|White [1954]|1984|p=48n}} (for further information on Topsell's manticore, cf. ''infra.''}} But the name was mistranscribed as 'mantichoras' in a faulty copy of [[Aristotle]], through whose works the legend of the manticore was perpetuated across Europe.<ref name="robinson"/>

Ctesias was later cited by [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] regarding the ''martichoras''  or {{transliteration|grc|[[Androphagi|androphagos]]}} of India.<ref name="pausanias"/>