draconcopedes
English
Etymology
From Medieval Latin dracontopedis, draconcopedis, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent”) + πούς (poús, “foot, leg”).
Noun
draconcopedes (plural draconcopedes)
- (mediaeval folklore) A legendary being with a human head, and sometimes also human arms and a torso, and the rest of the body of a snake.
- 1855 September 22, “Supernatural Zoology”, in Household Words, volume 12, page 188:
- For old acquaintance-sake we have stopped some little time with the dragon, before passing on to the Draconcopedes. This is the serpent with a woman’s head that tempted Eve.
- 2009, Peter Metevelis, Japanese Mythology and the Primeval World: A Comparative Symbolic Approach, →ISBN, page 39:
- In some European Garden of Eden tales, the woman and the serpent are hybridized into a creature referred to as a draconcopedes.
- 2016, Theresa Bane, “Draconcopedes”, in Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, →ISBN, page 106:
- In medieval European folklore the draconcopedes were a species of serpent said to have the body of a snake with the face and breasts of a woman […]
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