Basilisk
basilisk
(Greek: basiliskos, little king)
A fabulous monster formerly believed to exist in Africa and sometimes identified with the cockatrice. Its breath and even its look were reputed fatal, it being successfully combated only by the weasel or by means of a mirror. It is described as about a foot long, black and red in color, with a white, crown-like spot on the head, whence its name. It is referred to in the Bible, under the names of adder, asp, cobra, flying serpent, and viper (Isaiah 59).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Basilisk
SEE COCKATRICE.
Basilisk
in the superstition of the Middle Ages, was a fabulous animal which was to come from an egg laid by a thirty-year-old cock, and which a turtle was to hatch. It was to be frightfully large, with the body of a fowl, a brazen bill and brazen claws, also a long tail, formed like three snakes, and with three points. Such an animal was regarded as dangerous from its size, and deadly from its poison, and it was supposed that it killed even with its look, and is itself invulnerable, the only weapon available against it being a looking- glass, at the presentation of which it is frightened and bursts.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Basilisk
(in R.V., Isa. 11:8; 14:29; 59:5; Jer. 8:17), the “king serpent,” as the name imports; a fabulous serpent said to be three spans long, with a spot on its head like a crown. Probably the yellow snake is intended. (See COCKATRICE)
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Basilisk
BASILISK.See Serpent.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Basilisk
bazi-lisk (, cepha, , ciphon, from obsolete root , capha, to hiss: Isa 11:8; Isa 14:29; Isa 59:5; Jer 8:17; Pro 23:32 m. In Pro 23:32, the King James Version has adder, margin cockatrice; in the other passages cited the King James Version has cockatrice, margin adder (except Jer 8:17, no margin)): The word is from , basilskos, kinglet, from basileus, king, and signifies a mythical reptile hatched by a serpent from a cock’s egg. Its hissing drove away other serpents. Its look, and especially its breath, was fatal. According to Pliny, it was named from a crown-like spot on its head. It has been identified with the equally mythical COCKATRICE (which see). In all the passages cited, it denotes a venomous serpent (see ADDER; SERPENT), but it is impossible to tell what, if any, particular species is referred to. It must be borne in mind that while there are poisonous snakes in Palestine, there are more which are not poisonous, and most of the latter, as well as some harmless lizards, are commonly regarded as deadly. Several of the harmless snakes have crownlike markings on their heads, and it is quite conceivable that the basilisk myth may have been founded upon one of these.