An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Greif

by Friedrich Kluge

Greif, masculine, ‘griffin,’ from the equivalent Middle High German grîf, grîfe, Old High German grîf, grîfo, masculine. Whether the word was adopted from Greek through an Eastern source before the 8th century (hence the change of p into f) is questionable; in any case, Greek γρύψ, ‘griffin’ (stem γρῦπ; ν in the Byzantine and modern pronunciation equal to î; compare Leier), must be regarded as the final source of Greif; see also Drache. Chiefly through the legends concerning Duke Ernst the griffin became popular in Germany, though not among the other Teutons. In Romance too the bird is similarly named — Italian griffo, griffone, French griffon (English griffin). Hence Old High German grîfo and its Romance correspondences are probably to be traced back to a Middle Latin grîphus, derived from the Greek word; compare also Old Irish gríf. Since, moreover, the belief in fabulous birds that carry off men is genuinely Teutonic, a Teutonic form *grîpo, ‘snatcher’ (allied to greifen), may have been combined with γρῦπ-.