The enigmatic sphinx first appears in English in 1420 as a borrowing from Medieval Latin Sphinx. That in turn was borrowed from Ancient Greek Σφίγξ (Sphínx), of uncertain origin. People note its similarity to σφίγγω (sphíngō), meaning “to strangle”, but it’s more likely borrowed from the language spoken in Greece before the Myceneans took over around 1600 BCE. As a prominent element of Greek mythology, sphinx can be found with minimal changes across languages within the Greco-Roman cultural sphere, from Russian сфинкс (sfinks) to Danish sfinks and Spanish esfinge.

Perhaps the most famous sphinx, the Great Sphinx of Giza, was not originally called that. Its original name is lost to history, although we can guess that it was built around 4,600 years ago, as its face is modeled on the pharoah Khefre from that timeframe. About 3,400 years ago, the abandoned ancient statue was dug out of the sands and revered as a representation of the sun god Horus. At that time, the statue was called Hor-em-akhet, meaning “Horus of the Horizon”. About 2,700 years ago, visiting Greeks began calling it a sphinx, although it had become mostly reburied at that point, until it was dug out of the sands by Romans about 1,900 years ago. The Great Sphinx’s current visibility dates back to international efforts to dig it out of the sands 140 years ago.

The compound Sphynx cat describing a hairless cat originates from the 1966 cat breed Canadian Sphynx, named because its skin resembled the Great Sphinx’s weathered exterior.