From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - The Second Month - Constellation Names for Monoceros"
In the Second Month of Taurus

Monoceros, the Unicorn
The constellation name for Monoceros:

• Monoceros means "unicorn," the name is a Latinized form of the Greek word monokeras, "one-horned," or having one horn: mono-, one + keras, horn.
  • Horn.
    • Aramaic and Hebrew qeren, keh'-ren, from Heb. qaran, kaw-ran', a primary root to push or gore, used only as denom. to shoot out horns, fig. rays, have horns, shine, thus a horn (as projecting), by implication a flask, cornet, by resemblance an elephant's tooth (i.e. ivory), a corner (of the altar), a peak (of a mountain), a ray (of light), fig. power, hill, horn.
    • Greek keras, ker'-as, from a primary kar (the hair of the head), a horn (lit. or fig.), horn, as in an animal horn.
    • Sumerian si: n., horn(s); antenna(e); ray(s); light; plowland; v., to stand upright; to be straight; to be in order; to become completely still; adj., regular, normal.
      • Sumerian am-si: elephant ('wild ox' + 'horn, ray, antenna'; cf., šu-si, 'finger').
      • Sumerian si-šuš-nu: a sea creature ('antennae' + 'to sit down' + 'do not').
  • Horns represent aggressive force, and have a symbolic and figurative use Biblically as follows:
    • Multiple horns on one animal were equal to successive nations or rulers.
    • "Seven" with horns is perfection of power, good or evil.
    • A beast with two horns suggested outward lamblikeness and inward wickedness.
    • Thus a one-horned animal might have been an original purity, as if metaphorically, in the singular "a horn of salvation."
    • Allen states: On the Euphrates it probably was Kakkab Su-gub Gud-Elim, the Star Left Hand of the Horned Bull, said to have been a reference to the Centaur that was thus figured in that valley.
  
  
• Sumerian alim: wild ram; bison; aurochs; powerful.
  • Sumerian sún: aurochs cow; beerwort.
  • Sumerian áma, am: wild ox or cow (aurochs).
  • Unicorn (Rimu, Rheem, Reem, also Ramah, Indian Ram, Latin Roma):
    • Arabic rim is a two-horned animal.
    • Hebrew re'em, reh-ame', or re'eym, reh-ame', or reym, rame, from Heb. ra'am, raw-am', a primary root to rise, be lifted up, thus, a wild bull (from its conspicuousness), unicorn.    In reality the animal was an extinct wild ox.
      • In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, page 120 "Hebrew Reem (idea of loftiness, exaltation, power and pre-eminence)."    "We find the root in other kindred languages (Etruscan, Sanskrit, etc.), and it can be traced in the name of Abram, which means pre-eminent or high father; Ramah, high place, etc."
      • This may bring a relationship to the ignored constellation of Monoceros, by the likes of Rolleston, Bullinger and Seiss.
      • Allen states under Taurus: and in Judaea, Shor, although also known there as Re’em, a word that zoologically appears in the Authorized Version of our Bible as the "unicorn," but better in the Revised as the "wild ox."
  • Aurochs, also urus and wisent, are obsolete German, variant of German Auerochs, from Middle High German urohse, from Old High German urohso: uro, aurochs + ohso, ox.
    • Urus is an extinct wild ox (Bos primigenius) of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, believed to be the ancestor of domestic cattle [Latin urus, of Germanic origin].
    • Wisent is the European bison (Bison bonasus) having a smaller and higher head than the North American bison [German, from Middle High German, from Old High German wisunt].
  
  
• Although the Unicorn fits in to the Age of Taurus it may be more appropriate in Gemini.
  
  
• The origins of this mythical creature - a one-horned animal with the head and forequarters of a horse, the hindquarters of a stag, and the tail of a lion - which can be traced back to the Assyrians (2700 B.C.- 600 B.C.), who sometimes depicted such creatures in wall paintings.
  
  
• The Greeks have the fifth-century B.C. historian Ctesias, a Greek physician of the Persian court, who mentioned this bizarre animal, as a wild ass of India, but modern scholars believe the unicorn originated from a mistaken description of the Indian rhinoceros.
  
  
• It was around in the time of Julius Caesar's due to his account of his wars he describes it as being hunted in the Hercynian forests in his day.
  
  
• This true ox, less than an elephant in size may have been discovered in northern Palestine in recent times, a very large two-horned ox, extremely fierce.    It is describe in Job 39:9, 10, as being untamable and ferocious.    Thus Taurus is this ancient, huge, wild ox or bull.
  • Job 39:9 "Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib."    10, "Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?"
  
  
• Egyptian/Coptic:
  • Monoceros has no representation on the Denderah Zodiac unless it is the small bird figure behind the right foot of Orion, which is pursuing him, and in other sources is reported to be stinging and crippling his foot.    Note that some sources say he (Orion) has an injury to his leg.    It may be that the figure by his hind foot is the Egyptian Ba-Bird, Jabiru, Sumerian Habur, and Egyptian Sahu.
  • In "The Witness of the Stars," by E.W. Bullinger, and in the "Gospel of the Stars," by Joseph Seiss, both completely ignore this constellation.    Probably because it has no names for its stars to promote their celestial story.
  
  
• The central portion of the constellation straddles the Milky Way.
  
  
• There are no other names found for Monoceros.
  • Proctor assigned to it the alternative title Cervus.
  • Seen as das Einhorn in Germany, la Licorne in France, and il Unicorno or Liocorno in Italy,

See Star names for Monoceros.

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    This file last updated on July 15, 2008.

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