# Baricos



## Linnets

Hi all.
In an older version of the Wikipedia page about the _manticore_, a user added the purported Greek name for the creature, written _Baricos_. Later another user added a sort of Greek "re-trasliteration", i.e. Βάρἰκος, with an odd ψιλή in the middle of the word. Possible correct spellings of the word could be Βάρικος, Βαρίκος, Βάρυκος, Βαρύκος, Μπάρικος... Do any of these words exist in Greek? My (Ancient) Greek dictionaries do not contain anything similar to that except for βαρύκομπος, an adjective used by Pindar meaning "loud-roaring" (of lions).
Best regards and thanks in advance.


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## sotos

There is no such a greek word. In this post http://lexilogia.gr/forum/archive/index.php/t-6837.html the anonymous user says that Βαρικός is the greek name for  Manticore, a name made-up by the Greek translator of the book (El libro de los seres imaginarios).


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## sotos

Well, in Greece there are places and surnames "Βαρικός" and a word that is rarely used in relation to a certain type of soils or terrains. It means the muddy soil, the swamp. It seems to be a dialectal variant of thε more common  "βούρκος".


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## FacelessJanus

As far as I can see, Baricos was not made up. However as far as I can see it does not come from Greek but from Persian. And the creature as such though related to the Manticore, comes from the Earlier Middle Persian Martyaxwar, The Latin Mantichoras does come from Greek, but the Greek used an erroneous pronounciation of the original Persian name.


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## karabalino

The name by which the legend of the Manticore entered the Greek language, was Μαντιχώρας (masculine). The word does not mean anything, it is just a greconization of the persian word Martyaxwar, meaning ''man-eater''. If there could be a possible exact interpretation of this word in Greek, this would be Ανδροφάγος.


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## karabalino

Μαρτιχώρας*


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## Linnets

The link to Lexilogia is broken. I've tried to search "το βιβλίο των φανταστικών όντων" by J. L. Borges to find the Greek translation which uses βαρικός for the manticore. Could you please help me?


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## Perseas

I found this entry here, where it says that in Greek it's "Βάρἰκος Baricos". (Personally, Ι haven't heard Βάρικος before).
manticore -> μαρτιχόρας, μαρτιοχώρας, μαντιχώρας

Here is the entry of LSJ for μαρτιχόρας
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott,  A Greek-English Lexicon, μ , μα^ρι_λο-πότης , μαρτιχόρας


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## Linnets

Perseas said:


> I found this entry here, where it says that in Greek it's "Βάρἰκος Baricos". (Personally, Ι haven't heard Βάρικος before).
> manticore -> μαρτιχόρας, μαρτιοχώρας, μαντιχώρας


I suspect it was copied from the old version of the Wikipedia page, note the weird ψιλή in the middle (unless it is a κορωνίς marking a κρᾶσις).


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