Sagittarius 14: The Pyramids and the Sphinx

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e O n l i n e Et ym o l o gy

D i c t i on a ry , t h e w or d P y ra mi d d e s ce n d s
f r o m t h e F r e n c h p yra m i d , t he L a t i n

p yra m i s m e a n i n g o n e o f t he p y r a mi d s o f
E g y p t a n d t h e G r e e k p yra m i de s w hi ch a p p a re n t l y ( i s) a n a l t e r a t i o n o f t h e E g y p t i a n p i m a r wh i c h m e a n t p y r a mi d . 1 T h e r e a r e a t l e a s t t w o S phi nx es t h a t c o u l d b e r e f e r r e d t o i n t hi s s y m b o l . On e i s t h e c re a t u r e f r o m G r e e k m y t h o l o g y p o s s e ssi n g t h e he a d o f a w o m a n , t h e b o d y o f a l i o n e s s, t he w i n g s o f a n e a g l e , a n d a se r p e n t h e a de d t a i l. 2 T h e o t h e r a n d m o r e l i k e l y c h o i c e i s t he G r e a t S p h i n x o f G i z a w h i c h i s n e a r t he P y r a m i d o f K h a f r e a n d o n e o f t h e t h r e e P y r a m i d s o f Gi z a . E i t he r w a y , t h e w or d i t s e l f d e s ce n d s fr o m t h e L a t i n Sp h in x a n d t he G r e e k Sp h i n x w h i ch l i t e r a l l y me a n t t h e s t r a n g l e r . 3 T h e S p h in x w a s s o n a m e d b e c a u se o f t h e r o l e i t p la c e d a p r o t e ct o r t o t he c i t y o f G r e e k c i t y of Thebes: The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle of travelers to allow them passage. the most famous riddle in history: "Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?" She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering: Manwho crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age.4 TH EMES : T h e w o r d s t r a n g l e d e s ce n ds f r o m t h e I E r o o t st r e nk - w hi c h m e a n s t i g h t , n a r ro w . 5 P a r o n y m s i n c lu d e s t ri n g, s t ren gth , s t ran gl e, a n d

s t ra n gu ry ( a p a i n fu l d i s c h a r g e o f u r i n e , d r o p b y d r o p , p r o d u c e d b y
1 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pyramid 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx#Greek_traditions 3 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sphinx 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx#Greek_traditions 5 Watkins, C. (2000), The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo European Roots, pp. 87 Starling Hunter 2011 1

s p a s m o d i c m u s c u l a r c o n t r a c t i o n ) , a n d s t ro n g . Ta k e n t o g e t h e r w i t h t h e S p h i n x s r o l e a s a g u a r d i a n o f t he c i t y o f T h e b e s, w e ha v e t h e i d e a o f a S TRO NG PROT ECTOR .

Starling Hunter 2011