Also 7 jyng Pl. jynges. [a. mod.L. jynx, pl. jynges, = L. iynx, a. Gr. ἴυγξ, pl. ἴυγγες the wryneck, a bird made use of in witchcraft; hence, a charm, a spell.]
1. A bird, the wryneck (Jynx or Iynx torquilla); also called YUNX.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., ccxcv. Where not a Silver Iyng, or Pigeon, fell To Pay the Markman.
1706. Phillips, Jynx, the Wry-neck, or Emmet-hunter, or as some say, the Wag-tail.
1708. Phil. Trans., XXVI. 123. The Jynx or Wryneck … I first heard this year on March 29.
[1845. Zoologist, III. 1107. Its sharp and harsh cry, resembling a repetition of Jynx, Jynx, Jynx.]
1857. Birch, Anc. Pottery (1858), I. 297. A youth or females hold a bird, supposed to be the iynx, in their hands.
2. transf. A charm or spell.
a. 1693. Urquhart, Rabelais, III. i. 23. These are the Philtres, Allurements. Jynges, Inveiglements [les philtres, iynges, et attraictz], Baits, and Enticements of Love.
3. Name of an order of spiritual intelligences in ancient ‘Chaldaic’ philosophy.
1655. Stanley, Hist. Philos. (1701), 17/2. [tr.] Then is the Intelligible Jynx; next which are the Synoches, the Empyreal, the Ætherial and the Material; after the Synoches are the Teletarchs … Intelligent Jynges do themselves also understand from the Father By unspeakable Counsels being moved so as to understand.
