English
keythong
Keythong comes from Middle English keythong.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500keythong
- Englishearliest quotation 1852same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500keythong
- Englishearliest quotation 1852same form
Earliest quotation: 1852, James Robinson Planché, Badges: “The Earl of Ormonde,—a pair of keythongs. (?) *…”
The story
From Middle English keythong: attested in one medieval document describing Edward IV’s French Expedition of 1475, which records that the badge of John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond, featured a "peyr [pair] keythongs". Later writers including Colin Cole (The Coat of Arms 98, 1976) argued this denoted "male griffins" and that these were definitely separate monsters from "griffins" in the medieval period (although both the animals termed male griffins and those termed griffins are depicted with penises in medieval art), while Roger Barnes argues it referred to the two interlinked thongs of an Ormond knot.
Every English word from Middle English keythong
Today it means
noun A mythical beast resembling a griffin with no wings, often classified as a male griffin.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English keythong / keythong