empusa

See also: Empusa

English

Alternative forms

• empousa, empuse

Etymology

Ancient Greek Ἔμπουσα (Émpousa)

Noun

empusa (plural empusas or empusae)

1. (Greek mythology) In Ancient Greek mythology, a kind of spectre sent by Hecate to guard roads and devour travellers.
   • 1858, "Empūsa", entry in William Smith, A Classical Dictionary of Biography, Mythology, and Geography, John Murray, page 240,

     The Lamiae and Mormolyceia, who assumed the form of handsome women for the purpose of attracting young men, and then sucked their blood like vampyrs and ate their flesh, were reckoned among the Empusae.

   • 2016, Heide Crawford, The Origins of the Literary Vampire, Rowman & Littlefield, page 41:

     The empusae of Greek mythology demonstrate physical animal traits of the donkey and the female dog in order to emphasize certain negative characteristics associated with these animals in mythology that can also be applied to human beings.

Translations

kind of spectre in Greek mythology

• French: Empousa f, Empuse f
• German: Empusa m
• Italian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• lamia
• mormo

Anagrams

• pumsae