Sphinx

Greek: Sphinx ( Sfigx ), genitive: spiggos (Sfiggos ),

Probably from spiggo ( sfiggw ), to bind fast, tighten, tie in a bundle, severely restrain; to shut close, to grip or hold tightly, clutch, strangle, throttle.

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, the origin of the English word spigot ( a plug or peg or cork used to plug a hole in a barrel; a faucet or valve )  is uncertain, but ultimately based on Latin spica, ( a point, a spike, an ear of grain ). I speculate that the sounds of the roots spig and spic are close enough that the Romans got spica from spiggo . Certainly a spike could be used to plug an orifice in a jar or barrel. In this context, I think of the Sphinx as a seal or perhaps a gatekeeper or guard to the pharaoh's tombs in the pyramids. This might be reinforced by the fact that sphinx figures are found carved on Greek funeral stones. One objection to this might be that the Sphinx is thought by some to predate the pyramids. But the Greek name may have been given by Greeks who visited Egypt after both were present.

In the ancient Egyptian language, the Sphinx was called Hor-em-Akhet (Horus in the Horizon), a combination of the god of kingship, Horus, and the sun god Re.  Horoun was another one of the names used in the New Kingdom to refer to the Sphinx.

The name Horus stems from the ancient Egyptian word hr (her) which in its simple form was the preposition above, upon, so Horus the falcon soars above all the land and its inhabitants, and was the natural symbol of the King who reigns over all Egypt.  The name Horus also means the forsighted, where one eye represents the Sun and other represents the Moon. The Sun was known as Horakhty, or Horus in the Horizon.  Horus was considered as the god of the east and the rising Sun.

Hieroglyph for "Horizon": akhet

Approached from the east-southeast, the Sphinx’s head appears on the horizon between the Khafre and Khufu pyramids, like the sun disk between two mountains in the hieroglyph akhet or horizon. The Sphinx’s head is adorned with the nemes head dress of the king who was considered the god Horus incarnate. The New Kingdom Egyptians may have given the name Hor-em-akhet to the Sphinx for this reason.