† Bycornen.

Etymology: Apparently < Middle French Bigorne (although this is first attested later: 16th cent. in the poem Dit de Bigorne; it has been suggested, albeit without supporting evidence, that this poem may go back to a lost 14th-cent. original), of uncertain origin (see note), apparently with subsequent remodelling (in English) after Middle French bicorne or its etymon classical Latin bicornis two-horned (see bicorn adj.) and perhaps also unicorn n. Compare Chichevache n.It is unclear whether Middle French Bigorne is etymologically related to classical Latin bicornis and Middle French bicorne two-horned (see bicorn adj.); an illustration of the mythical creature in the Dit de Bigorne, as well as a contemporary fresco by Rigault d'Aurelle in the Château de Villeneuve (Auvergne), depict the beast without horns. With the medial -g- in the name of the mythical beast compare French regional (Poitou, Saintonge, Elle) bigourne ‘two-horned werewolf’ and Middle French bigorne ‘two-horned anvil’ (late 14th cent.; > bickern n.), both ultimately < classical Latin bicornis; the word for ‘two-horned anvil’ probably owes its medial -g- to transmission via Old Occitan bigorna, in the same sense (although this is first attested slightly later: 1403). Compare Spanish (rare) †bicorne, denotinɡ a mythical animal (1428 in an apparently isolated attestation), which probably arose by misinterpretation of a passage in Ovid Heroides 4. 49–50, which uses the Latin adjective.