Word Study
bestiary
CIDE DICTIONARY
bestiary, n. [LL. bestiarium, fr. L. bestiarius pert. to beasts, fr. bestia beast: cf. F. bestiaire.].
A treatise on beasts; esp., one of the moralizing or allegorical beast tales written in the Middle Ages. [1913 Webster]
"A bestiary . . . in itself one of the numerous mediæval renderings of the fantastic mystical zoölogy." [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
bestiary, n. (pl. -ies) a moralizing medieval treatise on real and imaginary beasts.
Etymology
med.L bestiarium f. L bestia beast
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