E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Horn.
Logistilla gave Astolpho at parting a horn that had the virtue to appal and put to flight the boldest knight or most savage beast. (Ariosto: Orlando Furioso, book viii.)
1
Astolpho’s horn. (See above.)
2
Cape Horn. So named by Schouten, a Dutch mariner, who first doubled it. He was a native of Hoorn, in north Holland, and named the cape after his native place.
3
Drinking horn. Drinking cups used to be made of the rhinoceros’s horn, from an Oriental belief that “it sweats at the approach of poison.” (Calmet: Biblical Dictionary.)
4
King Horn. The hero of a French metrical romance, and the original of our Horne Childe, generally called The Geste of Kyng Horn. The nominal author of the French romance is Mestre Thomas. Dr. Percy ascribes the English romance of King Horne to the twelfth century, but this is probably a century too early (See Ritson’s Ancient Romances.)
