pegasus

Etymology

From the mythical Pegasus.

Noun

pegasus (plural pegasuses or pegasi)

1. A winged horse (imaginary or mythical, sometimes figurative).

Etymology 1

From English pegasus, from Pegasus, from Latin, from Ancient Greek en Πήγασος (Pḗgasos).

Etymology 2

Horse from Red Horse Beer, wings from Gold Eagle Beer and St. Michael the Archangel standing in for Bellorophon or Perseus.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek Πήγασος (Pḗgasos)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpeː.ɡa.sus/, [ˈpeː.ɡa.sʊs]

Noun

pēgasus m (genitive pēgasī); second declension

1. pegasus (a winged horse or a bird with a horse's head, suspected to live in Africa)
   • c. 43 CE, Pomponius Mela, De situ orbis libri III 3

     Sunt mirae aves cornutae tragopanes et equinis auribus pegasi.

     [In Africa] there are wonderful birds: horned tragopans and pegasi with horse's ears.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 8.72

     Aethiopia generat […] pinnatos equos et cornibus armatos, quos pegasos vocant.

     • 1855 translation by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley

       Æthiopia produces […] horses with wings, and armed with horns, which are called pegasi.

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 10.26

     Pegasos equino capite volucres et grypas aurita aduncitate rostri fabulosos reor, illos in Scythia, hos in Aethiopia.

     • 1855 translation by John Bostock and Henry Thomas Riley

       I look upon the birds as fabulous which are called "pegasi," and are said to have a horse's head; as also the griffons, with long ears and a hooked beak. The former are said to be natives of Scythia, the latter of Æthiopia.

   • c. 250 CE, Solinus, De mirabilibus mundi

     Illius caeli ales est pegasus, sed haec ales equinum nihil praeter aures habet.

     In that climate lives the bird pegasus, but this winged creature has nothing equine except ears.

Noun

pegasus c

1. pegasus