jynx

See also: iynx and Jynx

English

Jynx torquilla (1)

Alternative forms

• (adaptations of the Latin nominative singular, iynx) iynx [in the 19th century], jynx [from the 17th century onwards]
• (adaptations of the Latin stem, iyng-) iyng, jyng [both disused after the 17th century]

Etymology

An adaptation of the Latin iynx (“wryneck”), itself an adaptation of the Ancient Greek ἴῠγξ (íunx, “Eurasian wryneck”, “Jynx torquilla”; figuratively “a spell or charm”, “passionate yearning”), which see for an explanation of the development of its senses.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒɪŋks/
• Homophone: jinx
• Rhymes: -ɪŋks

Noun

jynx (plural jynges)

1. A bird, the wryneck, once thought a bird of ill omen (Jynx torquilla).
   • 1649, George Daniel, Trinarchodia: Henry V, line ccxcv:

     Where not a Silver Iyng, or Pigeon, fell To Pay the Markman.

   • 1706, “Jynx”, in John Kersey, editor, Phillips’s New World of Words:

     Jynx, the Wry-neck, or Emmet-hunter, or as some say, the Wag-tail.

   • 1708, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, XXVI, page 123:

     The Jynx or Wryneck…I first heard this year on March 29.

   • 1845, The Zoologist: A Miscellany of Natural History III, page 1,107:

     Its sharp and harsh cry, resembling a repetition of 'Jynx', 'Jynx', 'Jynx'.

   • 1857, Samuel Birch, History of Ancient Pottery, volume I, published 1858, page 297:

     A youth or females hold a bird, supposed to be the iynx, in their hands.

2. (transferred sense) A charm or spell.

   Synonym: jinx

   • ante 1693, Sir Thomas Urquhart (translator), François Rabelais (author), The Third Book of the Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais, chapter i, page 23:

     These are the Philtres, Allurements, Jynges, Inveiglements [les philtres, iynges, et attraictz], Baits, and Enticements of Love.

3. The name of an order of spiritual intelligences in ancient “Chaldaic” philosophy.
   • 1655, Thomas Stanley, The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy, published 1701, page 17/2:

     Then is the Intelligible Jynx; next which are the Synoches, the Empyreal, the Ætherial and the Material; after the Synoches are the Teletarchs…Intelligent Jynges do themselves also understand from the Father By unspeakable Counsels being moved so as to understand.

Derived terms

• jinx

Related terms

• jyngine

Translations

Jynx torquilla — see wryneck

a charm or spell — see spell

name of an order of spiritual intelligences in Chaldaic philosophy

References

• NED V (H–K; 1st ed., 1901), § 3 (J), page 646/3, “Jynx”