Quote Originally Posted by SlyGuyMcFly View Post
Alicorn is a portmanteau: Ali- is a common English prefix that comes from the latin "ala", wing. -Corn comes strait of Latin - "cornus", horn. Alicorn literally means wing-horn. If anything, the alchemists were using the word wrong.

And really, emphasis on the were using it. There aren't any alchemists about, so the word has effectively entered the semantic Public Domain and can be taken up and changed by anyone who comes across it.
And this is why I love this thread. For awesome random facts of win.


Plus looking at the alternatives the rest just sound so bad. Alicorn sounds like a real word (being a real word and all ) as well as sounds appropriately regal. However I would find it highly amusing if the ponies of Equestria don't actually have a name for the Princess' species and we get a scene where ponies argue about the correct name for the species.