Where does the term 'Maneater' originate from?

Question

I've heard that it comes from a mythological character although I don't know if it was Greek, Roman, Indian or African. Again I've only heard a VERY brief tale about it being of a woman who lures men in order to kill and devour their entrails. Nice.*sarcasm*

Anyone know for sure about the meaning and origin of this 'label'?

Thanks!
xxx

Answer 1

Origin of the term 'MANEATER' -

Oxford Dictionary of Etymology, which constitutes a verbal confluence:

Columbus originally assumed the natives of Cuba were subjects of the Great Khan of China or 'Kannibals'. Prepared to meet the Great Khan, he had aboard Arabic and Hebrew speakers to translate.

Then thinking he heard Caniba or Canima, he thought that these were the dog-headed men (cane-bal) described in Mandeville. The Caribs called themselves Kalinago which, according to some scholars, meant 'valiant man'.
Richard Hakluyt's Voyages introduced the word to English. Shakespeare transposed it, anagram-fashion, to name his monster servant in The Tempest 'Caliban'.

Cannibalism (from Spanish caníbal, in connection with alleged cannibalism among the Caribs), also called anthropophagy (from Greek anthropos "man" and phagein "to consume") is the act or practice of humans consuming other humans. In zoology, the term cannibalism is extended to refer to any species consuming members of its own kind.

Care should be taken to distinguish among ritual cannibalism sanctioned by a cultural code, cannibalism by necessity occurring in extreme situations of famine, and cannibalism by mentally disturbed persons.-

Answer 2

I think it has something to do with the legendary Amazon women, who were supposedly 7 feet tall, and I guess sort of feminists, and, well, cannibals, so aside from occasionally procreating, they would use men solely for nourishment!

I can't verify this, but for some reason it pops into my head.

Answer 3

It is about tigers that develop the taste for human flesh.

Answer 4

Hall and oates


OHHH SHES A MANEATER