6 ms·
TFA says that a peryton, a class of astronomical signal, is named for a mythological beast, a winged elk. After first shuddering over the idea of an elk flying
by sizzzzlerz 7y ago
TFA says that a peryton, a class of astronomical signal, is named for a mythological beast, a winged elk. After first shuddering over the idea of an elk flying over one's head, I went to Google to find more about this as I've never heard of this beast before. Its source appears to be from author Jorge Borges who claims to have found a reference in an medieval manuscript. There appears to be no substantiating evidence elsewhere which is why it isn't as well known as other creatures of mythology.
- psoy 7y agoBorges used to deliberately make up medieval sources and reference non-existent works of literature. It's in his genre, see [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n,_Uqbar,_Orbis_Tertius https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tl%C3%B6n,_Uqbar,_Orbis_Tertiu...
- ljcn 7y agoNot a single reference in the OED.