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monocerosn.Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French monosceros, monoceros; Latin monocerot-, monoceros. Etymology: < Anglo-Norman monosceros, monoceros, monoscheros, monocheros and Middle French monoceros (early 12th cent. in Old French; also in Middle French as monoheros , monotheros , monothoroz (13th cent.); French monocéros ) and their etymon classical Latin monocerot-, monoceros (in post-classical Latin also monoceron (5th cent.), and in sense 3 (J. Bartsch Vsus Astronomicus Planisphaerii Stellati (1624) iv. 64)) < ancient Greek μονόκερωτ- , μονόκερως having one horn (in Hellenistic Greek also as noun, used mistakenly in the Septuagint to translate a word meaning ‘wild ox’) < μονο- mono- comb. form + κέρας (see kerato- comb. form). Compare rhinoceros n.For earlier use of post-classical Latin monoceron in an English context compare the following passages, both ultimately after Isidore Origines:OE Ælfric Gloss. (St. John's Oxf.) 309 Unicornis, anhyrne deor (þæt deor hæfð ænne horn bufan ðam twam eagum... He hatte eac rinoceron and monoceron). ▸ a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) 1241 Monoceron is a wilde beste most yschape liche to þe hors in body. In α genitive forms in -t- , after the Latin genitive singular monocerotis ; compare Italian†monocerote (1598 in Florio). In form monecores apparently remodelled after manticores , with which it rhymes in the following line. The following senses of the English word are also recorded at later dates for French monocéros : narwhal (1690), fish with a horn (1704), the name of a constellation (1812). The use of the Latin genitive case form as postmodifier in star names (see sense 3) is a practice that originated in post-classical Latin. the world > the supernatural > supernatural being > mythical creature or object > [noun] > unicorn c1400 (?a1300) (Laud) (1952) 6529 A Beeste þer is..Þat is ycleped monoceros. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny I. 206 The Licorne or Monoceros. 1656 J. Trapp iii. 7 Some creatures indeed may be taken, but not tamed, as the tiger, panther, monoceros. 1684 tr. T. Bonet vi. 239 [He] cured several of the Plague, onely by applying a piece of the Monocerot's horn. 1749 J. Pointer 160 [In the Musæum] Monoceros and Rhinoceros Horns. 1855 J. Bostock & H. T. Riley tr. Pliny II. xxxi. 281 The Orsaean Indians hunt down..a very fierce animal called the monoceros, which has the head of a stag, the feet of the elephant, and the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse. 1887 9 July 83/2 At the close of the sixteenth century the doctors of medicine in Augsberg met in solemn conclave to examine a specimen of unicorn's horn, which they found to be true monoceros, and not a forgery. 1954 T. H. White 43 The Monoceros is a monster with a horrible howl, with a horse-like body, with feet like an elephant, and with a tail like a stag's. 1969 R. E. Duncan 21 We picture (instead of the true monoceros, occult and impure) the white innocence of a fairy horse. 1993 P. Ackroyd (1994) ii. 51 In Libya dwells the monoceros that feasts upon poison. the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Hypotremata > [noun] > member of family Pristiophoridae (sawfish) the world > animals > mammals > order Cetacea (whales) > suborder Odontoceti > [noun] > family Monodontidae > genus Monodon (narwhal) the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > suborder Scombroidei (mackerel) > [noun] > family Xiphiidae (swordfish) > xiphias gladius (swordfish) 1590 E. Spenser ii. xii. sig. Aav Bright Scolopendraes, arm'd with siluer scales, Mighty Monoceros, with immeasured tayles. 1635 J. Swan viii. §1. 370 The Monoceros, or fish with one horn, may fitly be called the Sea-unicorn. 1706 (new ed.) Monoceros... Also the Saw-fish. 1825 G. Paxton (ed. 2) I. 89 The Monoceros is a native of the Indian seas. 1941 8 205 The scolopendra, monoceros (as a fish), the wasserman.., though familiar to Spenser through reading..he introduced to English readers. 1996 (Nexis) 5 May 6 [In a spelling test] the word ‘monoceros’, a fish with a hornlike projection, stumped him. the world > the universe > constellation > Southern constellations > [noun] > Monoceros 1769 21 Sept. 3/2 The Comet..this Morning, was close by two Stars of the fourth Magnitude, in the Rump of Monoceros, and nearly in a right Line with Procyon. 1786 J. Bonnycastle 422 Monoceros, a southern constellation, consisting of thirty-two stars. 1869 E. Dunkin 21 The Milky Way may be seen passing between Procyon and Sirius, through the unimportant constellation Monoceros. 1896 R. A. Proctor ii. 43 The star 11 Monocerotis is a fine triple star described by the elder Herschel as one of the finest sights in the heavens. 1946 B. J. Bok & P. F. Bok (ed. 2) ii. 47 The Harvard astronomers are working on the sections in Monoceros, Carina, and Centaurus. 1964 79 The area bounded by imaginary lines joining Sirius in Canis Major, Procyon in Canis Minor, Betelgeuse in Orion and Alhena in Gemini is occupied by a ‘modern’ constellation, Monoceros. 1973 C. Sagan (1974) ii. 15 There is already a unicorn in our sky, called Monoceros. 1990 P. S. Harrington vii. 178 With its brightest star shining at only a poor 4th magnitude, Monoceros commands very little attention from naked eye skywatchers. 2009 1 Jan. 44/2 Like the images of η Carinae and V838 Monocerotis, the planetary nebulae show a rich level of complexity, some of which varies over year-long timescales. the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > other types of gastropod mollusc 1828 J. Fleming 342 Monoceros... Aperture longitudinal, emarginate retrally; pillar reflected, with a tooth at the canal. 1851 S. P. Woodward i. 113 Monoceros... This genus is retained on account of its geographical curiosity. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1400 |