The onocentaur (Latin: onocentaurus, from Greek: Ὀνοκένταυρος, translit. Onokéntauros, lit. "donkey centaur") is a legendary creature from Ancient folklore and Medieval bestiaries.
The onocentaur (Latin: onocentaurus, from Greek: Ὀνοκένταυρος, translit. Onokéntauros, lit. "donkey centaur") is a legendary creature from Ancient folklore and Medieval bestiaries.
The onocentaur is similar to the centaur, but part-human part-donkey. However, unlike a centaur, which is portrayed with four legs, the onocentaur is often portrayed with only two legs, and some artwork depicts it with no front legs on the donkey part of its body. As with many liminal beings, the onocentaur's nature is one of conflict between its human and animal components.[1]
The first known mention was in reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus by an officer named Pythagoras, as quoted by Claudius Aelianus in De Natura Animalium. Aelian as well uses the term onokentaura for description of the female form.[2] He interpreted the onocentaur as: "its body resembles that of an ass, its colour is ashen but inclines to white beneath the flanks. It has a human chest with teats and a human face surrounded by thick hair. It may use its arms to seize and hold things but also to run. It has a violent temper and does not endure capture."[3]
The Life of Antony written by Athanasius of Alexandria mentions a "beast like a man to the thighs but having legs and feet like those of an ass", though it does not use the term onocentaur. [4]
As should be verifiable using a suitable concordance to the Bible, the Septuagint translators used the word onokentauros or ("onocentaur") four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5]
Once it is used without any corresponding Hebrew word, in verse 34.11. Twice, in verses 13:22 ("and onocentaurs will settle there and hedgehogs will make nests in their homes. It comes quickly and does not delay")[6] and 34:14 ("and the spirits will meet with the onocentaurs and howl one to another, and the onocentaurs will stop because they have found rest") to translate some sort of "island beast(s)" called ’íy (אִי; pl. ’íyyîm איים) in the original Hebrew,[7][8] possibly jackal[9] or hyena.[8] The second instance in the same verse (Is. 34:14) translates lîlîṯ (לילית), probably a female demon.[8]
Jerome's translation of the Septuagint and Vetus Latina versions into the Late Latin standard version, the Vulgate, preserved this interpretation.[10] John Wycliffe's early English-language translation of the Bible did not use the word "onocentaur", but instead glossed the term as: "wondurful beestis, lijk men in the hiyere part and lijk assis in the nethir part".[11] The later King James Version translates the word as "satyr".[12]
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