ROC
(rawk)
A
mythical bird of prey having enormous size and strength Common
clues: Fabled flier; “Arabian Nights” bird; Legendary
bird; Sinbad's transport; Mythical bird; Big bird Crossword
puzzle frequency:
3 times a year Frequency
in English language:
35629 / 86800
A
roc or rukh is a mythical white bird of enormous size and
strength that is reputed to have been able to lift and eat
elephants.
Roc
destroying Sindbad's ship from The
Book of Knowledge,
The Grolier Society, 1911
The
origin of the myth about the roc is unknown, and it is possible
that the myth originated from an actual bird, with references to
it being known from early as the 8th century from Middle-Eastern
authors. There are reported sightings of this bird as recently as
the 16th century by an English traveller who visited the Indian
Ocean. There are also the Thunderbirds of Native American
legends, which may be related to rocs, and some sightings are
still reported to this day.
Another
source could be the enormous Aepyornis or elephant bird from
Madagascar, an extinct flightless bird like a three-meter
ostrich.
The
Rook chess piece may originally have been based on a roc,
although the dominant hypothesis is a siege tower mounted on an
elephant.
The
legend of the roc, popularized in the West in the 1001 Nights'
tales of Sindbad the Sailor, was widely spread in the East; and
in later times the home of the bird was sought in the region of
Madagascar, whence gigantic fronds of the raffia palm very like a
quill in form appear to have been brought under the name of roc's
feathers (see; Yule's Marco
Polo,
bk. iii. ch. 33, and Academy,
1884, No. 620). Such a feather was brought to the Great Khan, and
we read also of a gigantic stump of a roc's quill being brought
to Spain by a merchant from the China seas (Abu Hamid of Spain,
in Damiri, s.v.).
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It uses material from the Wikipedia
article "Roc".
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