<P> It is impossible to identify what name the creators called their statue, as the Great Sphinx does not appear in any known inscription of the Old Kingdom and there are no inscriptions anywhere describing its construction or its original purpose . In the New Kingdom, the Sphinx was called Hor - em - akhet (English: Horus of the Horizon; Hellenized: Harmachis), and the pharaoh Thutmose IV (1401--1391 or 1397--1388 BC) specifically referred to it as such in his "Dream Stele ." </P> <P> The commonly used name "Sphinx" was given to it in classical antiquity, about 2000 years after the commonly accepted date of its construction by reference to a Greek mythological beast with a lion's body, a woman's head and the wings of an eagle (although, like most Egyptian sphinxes, the Great Sphinx has a man's head and no wings). The English word sphinx comes from the ancient Greek Σφίγξ (transliterated: sphinx) apparently from the verb σφίγγω (transliterated: sphingo / English: to squeeze), after the Greek sphinx who strangled anyone who failed to answer her riddle . </P> <P> The name may alternatively be a linguistic corruption of the phonetically different ancient Egyptian word Ssp - anx (in Manuel de Codage). This name is given to royal statues of the Fourth dynasty of ancient Egypt (2575--2467 BC) and later in the New Kingdom (c. 1570--1070 BC) to the Great Sphinx more specifically . </P> <P> Medieval Arab writers, including al - Maqrīzī, call the Sphinx balhib and bilhaw, which suggest a Coptic influence . The modern Egyptian Arabic name is أبو الهول (Abū al Hūl, English: The Terrifying One). </P>

Sketches of the sphinx by the dane frederic louis norden