simurg
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A monstrous bird of Persian fable, to which are ascribed characters like those of the roc.
Examples
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In ancient days there lived a bird with great, jewel-like wings. . . .She was the simurg, and people said her feathers, soft and abundant, could heal all ills.
Amy Friedman, 'Magical Bird Saves the Prince: A Persian Tale,' The Post and Courier, May 28, 1998
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The Simurg was a prophet of the good or bad to come, lived for fifteen hundred years and revived to live another fifteen centuries.
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Tamuras did not know what to do; so he went to consult a wonderful bird, called the Simurg, who speaks all tongues, and who knows everything that has happened, or that will happen.
Note
‘Simurg’ may come from a Pahlavi phrase meaning ‘eagle bird.’ Pahlavi is a Middle Iranian language.
