alce
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Forms: form: alces
Etymology: Possibly from Ancient Greek ἀλκή (alkḗ, “courage, prowess”).
Senses: examples: text: Ar. a fesse betw. three alces’ or griffins’ heads erased sa.
ref: 1842, John Burke, John Bernard Burke, A General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, London: […] Edward Churton, […]:
text: Alce. The Male Griffin. […] Alice, or Alce. The Male Gryphon.
ref: [1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry with Upwards of Two Thousand Five Hundred Illustrations, London: Kent & Cᵒ […]; East Dereham: W. H. Brown, […], page 4, column 2:
text: XV. CHARGES taken from MONSTERS. Monsters with Wings. Griffin. Dragon. Alce. Opinicus. […] Alce. See Griffin. […] The term Alce is given, as if used by writers for a kind of griffin, but no example can be quoted.
ref: [1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, new edition, Oxford, Oxon; London: James Parker and Co., pages xvii, 9, and 294:
text: […] griffin seems to have an existence in theory only; nevertheless he must be catalogued, together with the word alce, which is accepted (though not without dissent) as the individual name for the horned griffin.
ref: [1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, 2nd edition, MacGibbon & Kee, page 149:
text: Infrequently, a griffin is portrayed without wings; in 15th-century and later heraldry such a beast may be called an ‘alce’ or a ‘keythong.’
ref: [2001, Osita Iroku, A Day in the Life of God, →ISBN, page 85:
text: Folks gave the beast many names. Griffin, griffon, gryphon, alce, keythong, gryphen, griffen, gryphen, and opinicus…
ref: [2009, Benjamin Towe, The First Wandmaker (Elfdreams of Parallan; II), Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 20:
text: "It has no wings! I thought that griffins were lions with an eagle head and wings." / "I'm sure that this female Alce doesn't prefer to be called 'it,'" Ryu said pointedly. / "Alce?" / "Yes. A so-called wingless griffin. But they are two different creatures."
ref: 2009, Nicole Zoltack, Woman of Honor (The Kingdom of Arnhem; 1), Newhall, Calif.: Desert Breeze Publishing, Inc., →ISBN:
text: The more common representation of the griffin is the female griffin, a creature with wings. Male griffins do NOT have wings and are termed “alces” or “keythongs.”
ref: [2009 June, The Celator, volume 23, number 6:
text: They’d befriended him because he fed them the tastiest morsels, Alce, the gilded griffin, preferred Marvel while Keythong, the agate stone one, craved DC Comics.
ref: 2010, Shirin Dubbin, Dreams’ Dark Kiss, Carina Press, Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN:
text: figure 11 Cloven-hoofed, wingless griffin (also called an alce or a keythong in later heraldry) symbolizing the sun, and two-legged dragon (wyvern) symbolizing the moon.
ref: [2011, Marc Michael Epstein, The Medieval Haggadah: Art, Narrative, and Religious Imagination, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 58:
text: Alce / Variations: Anthalops, Alcida, Calopus, Keythong, Panthalops, Tapopus / In heraldic symbology the alce is a wingless, male griffin with rays or spikes of gold protruding from several parts of its body; on occasion it also sports two long straight horns atop its head. A pair of such creatures is present on the coat of arms of the Earl of Ormande.
ref: 2016, Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 22, column 1:
text: Adventurer’s Tip: Do not confuse [the griffin] with similar hybrids, such as the alce (a wingless griffin) or the alphyn (a lion with eagle claws for front legs).
ref: 2019, Blanca Martínez de Rituerto, Joe Sparrow, Dungeons & Drawings: An Illustrated Compendium of Creatures, Kansas City, Mo.: Andrews McMeel Publishing, →ISBN:
topics: fantasy
government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
synonyms: keythong
glosses: A mythical beast resembling a griffin with no wings, often classified as a male griffin.