According to The Medieval Beastiary, the manticore is a composite beast. Using judgement and word skills, I would posit that a "composite beast" is a beast comprised of two or more other beasts. In this case, the mushed-together-beasts (and bits stolen) in question are man (face), lion (body), and scorpion (tail). A first known mention of the manticore in literary works was made by Pliny the Elder, whose existence is a snack unto itself indeed.
The literal translation for manticore is "man-eater," which is clearly why its name is shared with the yacht of that crazy killer chick in GoldenEye.
fotografias courtesy of googlegooglegoogle
