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Revision as of 17:59, 4 June 2009
A cockatrice is a magical creature resembling a rooster with a lizard's tail. During the 1792 Triwizard Tournament, one of the tasks involved capturing a cocktrice. Unfortunately, the cockatrice broke free, and went on a rampage that injured the Heads of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, and the Durmstrang Institute.
The cockatrice is similiar to the Basilisk, however it is different in that the cockatrice has wings and can fly. A cockatrice is born from a rooster's egg hatched under a reptile. It supposedly posesses the magical ability to petrify people by either looking at, breathing on, or touching them. Medieval accounts, such as Ye Olde Nethack Bestiary, claim the weasel is the only animal immune to the cockatrice's magic (although this account terms it "chickatrice").
Also like the Basilisk, it was believed that a cockatrice could be killed by subjecting it to the crowing of a rooster. Another way to kill a cockatrice was supposedly to have it look at itself in a mirror. Like the Medusa, the cockatrice's powers were thought to still carry effect after its death.
Etymology
The cockatrice takes its name from both cock (rooster) and crocodile (old French, cocatris).
Behind the scenes
- The origins of the cockatrice harken back to the slang term for a Londoner, "Cockney," meaning "cock's egg".
- The local legend of the village of Wherwell, Hampshire holds that a cockatrice was imprisoned in Wherwell Priory until a man named Green killed it with a mirror. The cockatrice exhausted itself trying to kill its reflection, at which point Green slew it. There is land near Wherwell that is still called Green's Acres for the prize of land Green received in exchange for doing away with the beast. What's more, a weather vane in the shape of a cockatrice topped the church of St. Peter and Holy Cross in Wherwell until it donated to the Andover Museum.
- The King James Old Testament uses the word cockatrice to describe a particular beast (Jeremiah 8:17, among many). The Revised Version terms it "basilisk", and the NIV Bible translates it as "viper."
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mentioned only)