oryxn.

Etymology: < classical Latin oryg-, oryx a kind of antelope or gazelle, in post-classical Latin also small hibernating animal (1230–50 in Bartholomaeus Anglicus as orix : see note below) < ancient Greek ὀρυγ- , ὄρυξ a kind of antelope or gazelle < the stem of ὀρύσσειν to dig up (see orycto- comb. form), so called on account of its pointed horns. Compare French oryx (18th cent.; 1530 in Middle French as orix, 1562 as orige), Italian orice, orige (a1309 or earlier as orix, c1325 as origen), Spanish orix (1494).In the Septuagint and Vulgate ὄρυξ and oryx are respectively used to render Hebrew tō' (1611 wild ox, wild bull, Revised Version antelope); the term is adopted from the Vulgate into the Wycliffite Bible and some 16th-cent. Bibles, but erroneously identified with some small hibernating animal. Compare: ▸ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 294^v Orix..is acounted in þe lawe among vnclene bestes & is a beste liche to a water mous.a1425 Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Fairf.) Isa. li. 20 Gloss. That is, a beest lijk a water mous, that slepeth al winter, and lifeth aȝen in somer. In α. forms (which only occur in the Wycliffite Bible and Coverdale) probably after classical Latin orygem , accusative singular (in the corresponding passage in the Vulgate: see quots. a1382¹, 1535). In β plural forms origes, oryges after classical Latin oryges, plural.