I thought that this was interesting. Apparently the term 'barritus' used to refer to the sound an elephant makes with it's trunk (trumpeting). It was a term th

I thought that this was interesting. Apparently the term 'barritus' used to refer to the sound an elephant makes with it's trunk (trumpeting). It was a term that was also used during Roman times to describe the Roman war-cry which they had adopted from Germanic soldiers. http://worldofdictionary.com/dict/latin-english/meaning/barritus http://worldofdictionary.com/dict/latin-english/meaning/barr... It's possible that this association may have colored educated naturalists to paint an elephant with a 'war-trumpet' on it's trunk. It's also possible that the author was getting the viewer to visualize the sound that the animal makes via visual imagery.