Talk:Alicorns/@comment-6196249-20130308071630/@comment-4445678-20130323185411

@76.27.73.130: Actually, the use of "alicorn" as referring to a unicorn's horn is still going on. According to Wiktionary, the most recent use of the term with that meaning was in 2010, in The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter.

"Tests to verify the authenticity of  alicorn—most of which involved placing spiders near the horn and observing their reactions—were numerous, but apparently few detected bogus horn, for narwhal tusks, masquerading as unicorn horn, made their way into shops across Europe."

Also, there are several sources that indicate that it could make the slightest bit of sense. Tvtropes states that it comes from a li corne, meaning "secured horn", Wiktionary states it comes from Italian alicorno, and Richard D. Bellacera speculates that it could have come from  Latin  alima  (“of the sea”),  alere  (“to nourish”), or  alius  (“other source or knowledge”).