quadricephalous

quadri- +‎ -cephalous

quadricephalous (not comparable)

1. Having four heads.

   After decapitating the Hydra twice, I found myself face to faces with a quadricephalous beast.

   • 1899 February 1, “Editorial Miscellany”, in Bulletin of Eclectic Shorthand‎, volume 2, number 2, page 10:

     "[We] were invited to his school room to demonstrate the foundation of Electic, Elective, Electric, Elliptic Shorthand, and gained an adherent–the principal–who began at once the study of the quadricephalous system and has since remained a staunch advocate of its claims."

   • 1946, R. Pettazzoni, “The Pagan Origins of the Three-Headed Representation of the Christian Trinity”, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, volume 9, →DOI, pages 135–136:

     "... neither the four terminal heads nor the three-sided figure at the base need be considered as representations of a quadricephalous and of a tricephalous god."

   • 2010, Paul Henley, The Adventure of the Real: Jean Rouch and the Craft of Ethnographic Cinema, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 330:

     "... Rouch formed a joint production entity with Damouré and Lam, the name of which was made up of the first syllables of their respective names–DALAROU. [...] Later, when Tallou became more prominent in the ethnofictions, the tricephalous name was expanded so as to include the first syllable of his name as well. As a result, the entity acquired a quadricephalous moniker–DALAROUTA."

• tetracephalous

• monocephalous
• bicephalous
• tricephalous
• pentacephalous