the.com/spitting cobra

means A cobra species that defends itself by forcefully ejecting venom from its fangs toward an attacker's eyes, rather than only biting, often causing intense pain or blindness if untreated.

from 'Cobra' traces back through Portuguese 'cobra de capelo' ('snake with a hood') to Latin 'colubra,' meaning serpent. 'Spitting' is the plain English description bolted on once naturalists documented the behavior — the snakes don't actually spit in the saliva sense, they contract muscles around the venom gland and force venom out through modified fang openings, aiming by reflex at movement and light, which in a threatening animal usually means the eyes. The name is purely descriptive, no hidden myth — it's just what early observers watched the snake do, from a safe distance, repeatedly.