[Ultimately (partly via Kashmiri, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu) from Persian mārkhōr, variant (influenced by khor-, stem of khordan, to eat) of mārkhwār, literally "snake-eater" (the markhor being so called because of the widespread Eurasian folk belief that certain ungulates eat snakes, perhaps inspired by the markhor's coiled, serpentine horns, or by the dark green bezoars of old markhor bucks, traditionally prized as an antidote to poison) : mār, snake (from Middle Persian, perhaps from Old Iranian *marthra-, killer; see mer- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots) + -khwār, eater (from Old Iranian *-khvāra-; see MANTICORE).]