γρύψ

Greek grýps (genitive grȳpós) means 'hook-nosed' or 'curved,' describing the eagle's beak on the creature's lion body. The griffin appears in art and text across the ancient Near East — Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Minoan cultures all depicted eagle-lion hybrids before the Greeks gave them a name. The creature guarded gold and treasures. Herodotus placed griffins in the northern wastes of Scythia, where gold deposits were abundant. The guardian-of-gold role is consistent across cultures and centuries.

Folklorist Adrienne Mayor proposed in 1989 that griffin legends were inspired by Protoceratops fossils found along the gold-bearing routes of Central Asia. Protoceratops — a ceratopsian dinosaur — has a beaked face, four legs, and is roughly lion-sized. Its fossils are abundant in the Gobi Desert, exposed by wind erosion. Scythian nomads and Greek traders, encountering these skeletons alongside gold deposits, may have interpreted them as the remains of the creatures they had heard described: beaked, four-legged guardians of gold. The theory is not proven, but it is compelling.

Griffins appear in heraldry more than almost any other mythological creature. The coat of arms of the City of London features two silver griffins. The Romanov dynasty used a black double-headed eagle that evolved from griffin imagery. The griffin represents vigilance, valor, and guardianship — all qualities derived from its mythological role as a treasure-watcher. In heraldry, a male griffin (without wings) is called a 'keythong' or 'alce,' though this distinction is largely forgotten.

The English spelling oscillates between 'griffin,' 'griffon,' and 'gryphon.' Lewis Carroll used 'Gryphon' in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) takes its name from the same Greek root. A dog breed — the Brussels Griffon — is named for its supposedly griffin-like face. The Greek word for the hook-nosed beast has been applied to a dinosaur hypothesis, a heraldic charge, a vulture, and a lapdog.