The Ancient Greek root of “fly or wings” is “pter-“. It
is derived from the PIE “pet-“ which also means “to fly/related to
wings”.
Before machines, the air was the path of huge lizards
with wings for arms. These were pterodactyls (“dactyl” in Greek means
“fingers”). Some also call them pterosaurs. but even before those
lizards, it was the “old flying thing” that ruled the skies. No really,
the Indys and Laras came across a really old fossil of a bird, and
decided to call it “a really old bird”. Or “archaeopteryx”.
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| H. J Draper's Lament of Icarus, showing a dead Icarus after he flew too
close to the Sun, surrounded by lamenting nymphs. Touted to be a parable of a university student finishing too close to the submission deadlines, surrounded by their lamenting grades. |
With all due respect to Doyle and Spielberg though, do note that a pterosaur probably looked nothing like the two would have us believe. All pop-culture is based on the Rule of Cool, and anyone who says a T-Rex was not fat and fluffy (like a chicken perhaps?) does not know their herpetology (“herpet” is Greek for reptile), and palaeontology (“palaeon” in Greek means “old”).
The remaining others who are without wings are either called “apterous”, or sometimes (unironically), Icarus.
