keythong

Meanings

1. A mythical beast resembling a griffin with no wings, often classified as a male griffin.

Etymology

Unclear. From Middle English keythong: attested in one medieval document describing Edward IV’s French Expedition of 1475, which records that the badge of John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond, featured a "peyr [pair] keythongs". Later writers including Colin Cole (The Coat of Arms 98, 1976) argued this denoted "male griffins" and that these were definitely separate monsters from "griffins" in the medieval period (although both the animals termed male griffins and those termed griffins are depicted with penises in medieval art), while Roger Barnes argues it referred to the two interlinked thongs of an Ormond knot.