The hircocervus ( la, hircus, "billy goat" + ''cervus'', "stag") or tragelaph ( el, τράγος, , translit=tragos, "billy goat" + έλαφος, ''elaphos'', "stag"), also known as a goat-stag, was a legendary creature imagined to be half-

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

, half-

stag Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

Origins

In Plato's ''Republic'',

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

speaks of his own image-making as similar to that of painters who paint goat-stags, combining the features of different things together (488a). In his work ''

De Interpretatione ''De Interpretatione'' or ''On Interpretation'' (Greek: Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας, ''Peri Hermeneias'') is the second text from Aristotle's ''Organon'' and is among the earliest surviving philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal ...

'',

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

utilized the idea of a fabulous goat-stag to express the philosophical concept of something that is describable even though it does not really exist. He returns to this in the

Posterior Analytics The ''Posterior Analytics'' ( grc-gre, Ἀναλυτικὰ Ὕστερα; la, Analytica Posteriora) is a text from Aristotle's ''Organon'' that deals with demonstration, definition, and scientific knowledge. The demonstration is distinguished ...

to argue that, though the word is definable, there can be no definition of the species as it has no members. He also uses the ''tragelaphos'' together with the Sphinx in the

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

to illustrate the point that a non-existent creature has no spatial location. On the other hand,

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

treats the ''tragelaphos'' as an existing animal, and there are references in Greek literature to other hybrid creatures such as the ''hippelaphos'' (horse-stag). The word ''hircocervus'' first appears in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

in a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

manuscript dating from 1398 (now at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...

In culture

Rabbinic literature refers to an animal called a ''koy'' which is halfway between domesticated and wild species of quadruped, and debates how far it is subject to the laws governing each category. Scholars are divided on whether the rabbis believed the ''koy'' to be a real creature or an imaginary example used for a hypothetical discussion. Martin Luther uses the term "Goat-stag" (''tragelaphus'' in his Latin) in his ''Theses Against the Antinomians'' (1540, Sixth Set) to describe "a law that does not condemn". Luther is stating that one can imagine a law from God that only instructs or teaches without threatening and condemning human sin. However, Luther claims that such a law, often sought by theologians throughout Christian history, does not actually exist. The Trusty Servant, depicted in a painting at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, was described as a ''Hircocervus'' by

Arthur Cleveland Coxe Arthur Cleveland Coxe (May 10, 1818 - July 20, 1896) was the second Episcopal bishop of Western New York. He used Cleveland as his given name and is often referred to as A. Cleveland Coxe. Biography He was the son of the Reverend Samuel Hanso ...

, though this is not strictly accurate as the Trusty Servant contains no part of a goat but rather parts of a man, a hog and a donkey. Umberto Eco refers to a hircocervus in his novel ''

The Island of the Day Before ''The Island of the Day Before'' ( it, L'isola del giorno prima) is a 1994 historical fiction novel by Umberto Eco set in the 17th century during the historical search for the secret of longitude. The central character is Roberto della Griva, an ...

'', as does Italo Calvino in ''

Invisible Cities ''Invisible Cities'' ( it, Le città invisibili) is a novel by Italian writer Italo Calvino. It was published in Italy in 1972 by Giulio Einaudi Editore. Description The book explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of ...

''. Italian

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

philosopher

Antonio Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a ...

uses the term hircocervus to describe parliamentary political alliances between socialist parties and parties sympathetic to the state and capitalism. The dual party of socialists and capitalists "thus becomes a hircocervus, a historical monster devoid of will or particular aims, concerned only with its possession of the state."

References

{{Authority control Medieval European legendary creatures Fictional hybrid life forms Fantasy creatures