The Crazy Origins Behind Words You Use Every Day

Unicorn

crazy word origins
IMAGE BY: Tulsa Zoo

In its Latin components, “unicorn” means “one horn,” which is deceptively straightforward. The twisted history of this word goes back to the first Grecian translators of the Hebrew Bible, who interpreted the word re’em as monokeros, or “one horn.” The theory is that this originally refers not to a mythical horned horse, but in fact to the very real African rhinoceros.

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