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beautifulpyre commented on the word cynophales
From what I can piece together, this means something like "dog-penis." (Cyno: dog, phales: phallus?)
The usage from the Name of the Rose (in which Adso is describing a carved door with all kinds of obscure creatures from a bestiary) suggests it might be a doglike creature with a prominent phallus.
The line from The Name of the Rose is "cynophales who darted fire from their nostrils."
See also: cynocephaly. Could cynophales simply be a shortening of cynocephalus?
April 30, 2009