Question about alicorns?

[pinkiefan1287 610]

So I have an odd ball question about alicorns and it has noting to do with their immortally, magic, or other stuff.

 

What I want to know is where did the name alicorn come from and is the name only connected to MLP?

 

I have been watching this anime called Smile Precure, which has some very odd similarities to MLP, such as attacking with rainbows and having a princess mode. Not kidding. Anyway in the show now they get their powers from a horde Pegasus. Now I am willing to admit that maybe the Japans colter may at times see a Pegasus with a horn and other times not. Or it could have just been away to sell another toy to little girls. 

 

Clips

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XhvInJL8dc

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri_afACx3Ao

 

That is what I liked to know if anyone has answer. 

[ermahgerdapples 32]

Well, winged unicorns do seem to have a history and mythology  , but I'm not really sure where winged unicorns got the name, "alicorns".   That's one really good question.  I did search ali- (the prefix), and it meant "other" or "else", so it could mean a unicorn with something other than just a horn. That's what I'm guessing, but I'm still not completely sure.

[hawkflame 3,315]

No it's not connected just to MLP and in fact the word has been around for decades, though its usually meant to indicate the horn of a unicorn.

 

But even the meaning of it as a winged unicorn goes back for years, and the first known published reference to it is in a 1984 Piers Anthony novel, according to Wiktionary.

Edited June 17, 2013 by hawkflame

[Fhaolan 4,494]

Alicorn and Unicorn are technically the same name, but have moved into English through different paths. Unicorn comes to English from old French (unicorne), which got it from Latin (unicornus), which is from the old Indo-European roots of oi-no-kernu. Alicorn is the same root, but filtered through the Moors instead of the Franks, shifting the oi-no in a different direction, and ending up as part of the special creole used by Alchemists to refer to the mystical substance of the horn itself, rather than the entire creature.

 

Winged Unicorns have been in mythology since at least the Assyrians (really, really, long ago). But then the Assyrians stuck wings on pretty much anything they came across. It was a 'thing' with them.

 

As @@hawkflame said, the first known instance of Alicorn = Winged Unicorn first showed up with Piers Anthony. Before that authors just spelled it out as winged unicorn, or less often a horned pegasis. If they bothered to call it anything more than 'unicorn' or 'pegasis' depending on whether the horn or wings were more important to the story at hand.

[Mephala 2,635]

Alicorn is also said to be what a unicorns horn is composed of as well as meaning a winged unicorn, if my memory serves correctly. I looked it up once before a while ago when a friend made the same inquiry.

[Hopeful Daydreams 28]

I have no idea about the origin of the word 'alicorn' but I think I'm going to start watching that anime it looks adorable and the art is gorgeous