licorne

English

Quarter-pood licorne of 1805

Etymology

From French licorne, calque of Russian единоро́г (jedinoróg, “unicorn”).

Noun

licorne (plural licornes)

1. (historical, military) A type of muzzle-loading gun-howitzer used by the Russian Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries.
   • 1824, “Answers of Sir A. D., K. C. B. of the Royal Artillery, to some questions from Lieutenant C. D. Bengal Artillery”, in The British Indian Military Repository, volume 3:

     But I think our new 24-pounder howitzer will be found superior to any of them, not even excepting the Russian Licorne.

   • 1837, T. F. Simmons, Ideas as to the Effect of Heavy Ordnance Directed Against and Applied by Ships of War, etc.:

     The Russians have a howitzer denominated licorne, the bore of which is, in its whole extent, the truncated frustrum of a cone: the only field guns in the possession of the artillery at Corfu, in 1822, were Russian guns of this description.

   • 2007, Jeff Kinard, “Eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century artillery”, in Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact:

     Essentially a hybrid between a howitzer and a gun, thus a gun-howitzer, the licorne was capable of a flatter trajectory and a longer range than the conventional howitzer.

Translations

muzzle-loading gun-howitzer used by the Russian Empire

• Finnish: jedinorog
• Russian: единоро́г (ru) m (jedinoróg)
• Ukrainian: єдинорі́г (uk) m (jedynoríh)

Further reading

• licorne on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From Old French unicorne via reanalysis as une icorne (with indefinite article), followed by further reanalysis of the new definite form l'icorne, or from Italian alicorno, variant of liocorno.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.kɔʁn/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

licorne f (plural licornes)

1. (mythology) unicorn
2. (heraldry) unicorn
3. (finance) unicorn (startup whose valuation has exceeded one billion U.S. dollars)

Further reading

• “licorne”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French licorne.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔʁ.ni/ [liˈkɔɦ.ni]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔʁ.ni/ [liˈkɔɦ.ni]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔɾ.ni/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔʁ.ni/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔɻ.ne/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /liˈkɔɾ.nɨ/

• Hyphenation: li‧cor‧ne

Noun

licorne m (plural licornes)

1. unicorn

   Synonym: unicórnio