ETYMOLOGY
from Latin dulcarnon Pythagoras’ theorem
from Arabic ḏu’l-qarnayn (two-horned, lit. ‘possessor of the two horns’)
from ḏu (lord, possessor) + al (the) + qarnayn, dual of qarn (horn)
EXAMPLES
“…Criseyde answerde, :As wisly God at reste
My soule bringe, as me is for hym wo!
If that ich hadde grace to do so.
And eem, y-wis, fayn wolde I doon the beste,
But whether that ye dwelle or for him go,
I am, til God me bettre mynde sende,
At dulcarnoun, right at my wittes ende…”
From: Letter from Mrs. M. Roper in Thomas More’s Works, 1441
“…Siva holds the drums of creation in one hand and the fires of destruction in the other—an either/or dulcarnon from which there seems no escape…”
From: A Wake Newslitter
December, 1974
Lexicophilia 