Talk:Pegasus

Ancient Corinth

Pegasus was the chosen symbol of ancient Corinth as evidenced by its coinage in the 5th-3rd centuries BC

Untitled

I just added a paragraph or two from Tem42's writeup on Everything2: http://everything2.com/?node_id=1395181 I have his permission to port any of his E2 writeups to the Wikipedia. Please feel free to incorporate any other information you feel is worth including. -- General Wesc 01:56, 21 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I ditched the "Pegasus atop the Opera house" image, which looked like something I'd find at a yard sale. Alexander 007 19:46, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Are we quite sure this isn't a bit stub-by?

It's stubby, but not a stub. I placed a template for expansion. Alexander 007 00:58, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Pegasus is a winged horse

NOT a winged unicorn. A unicorn has a many horn, pegasus does not. Why the redirect? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonged_unicorn —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.215.192.111 (talk) 01:50, 15 February 2007 (UTC).

Probably because we haven't got an article on winged unicorns (alicorns / cerapters / pegacorns / unipegs). You could try to get the redirect deleted if you think it's worth the effort. Or you could write an article. --Zundark 11:47, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Actually, looking at the edit history of winged unicorn, I see that it was originally intended as a redirect to winged equine. This makes sense, as a unicorn is certainly an equine (in the sense in which that term is used in fantasy circles), and the winged equine article even mentioned winged unicorns as an example. But someone objected to the winged equine article, and redirected it to pegasus. This made winged unicorn into a double redirect, which someone duly fixed. Thus a correct redirect became an incorrect redirect. --Zundark 12:05, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

A Pegasus has white hair and is winged and was raised by the god Poseidon. ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. . . . . . .. . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.167.89.105 (talk) 04:35, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Pegasus, Hippolochus and Piyama-Kurunta

- Was Argos that gave its name to Arzawa?

Note: The word "wa' means "land" in Hittite language.

- Was Bellerophon, the Corinthian prince of Greek Mythology, the same person with Uhhaziti, king of Arzawa?

- Was Arza-wa the "Argive land" (i.e. Achaean or Mycenean colonies), in Asia Minor (or else, Anatolia), in 16, 15, 14 centuries B.C. ?

- Was Madduwatta or Maddywattes, the Lukkan king of Arzawa (1360? B.C.) the same person with Jobates, the king of Lycia according to Greek Mythology?

- - Is exact the etymology, below ? :

Madduwatta < Maddu-watta < (Madd)u-watta < Uwatta < Ιοβάτα < Ιοβάτης (Jobates or Iobates)

- Was Piyama-Kurunta, Arzawean general and son of Uhhaziti, the king of Arzawa, the same person with Hippolochus (= he who is leader of cavalry, in Greek), the first son of Bellerophon or with ("Pegasus (the Corinthian)", the mythical horse of Bellerophon?

Note:

Hippolochus = Hippus ( = horse, in Greek) + lochus ( = group of soldiers, in Greek).

--IonnKorr 08:41, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Pegasus InfoCorp

The word "Pegasus" has been used by several organizations worldwide. Though not as popular as other famous Greek words, such as "Zeus", Pegasus has it's own share of favorites. An example of this is Pegasus InfoCorp, a popular website and web based software development company based in India.

Pegasus Project

Hey I have to do a report on Pegasus for a class....anyone have any odd-ball info that no one really knows???? thanks

    --ElvenLady~HobbitGirl 00:36, 6 March 2007 (UTC)ElvenLady~HobbitGirl

Hercules

didn"t hercules have one (or was that just in the disney version)--I.W 20:47, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

YES Hercules, I dont think...

WAS UP Pegasus was born from the neck of Medusa when she was beheaded by the hero Perseus. (Medusa seduced Poseidon into laying down with her on the alter of Athena, enraging the goddess, and Medusa was punished, but that has nothing to do with the project) Wherever the steed touched hoof to earth, a spring burst out there. One such spring became sacred to the Muses. Athena caught and tamed Pegasus and presented him to the Muses, and he worked for them for a while. Bellerophon wanted to catch Pegasus, but never could. A wise person called Polyidus advised him to sleep on the alter of Athena. Bellerophon did, and, in his sleep, was visited by Athena. She gave him a golden bridle. in the morning, Bellerophon found the golden bridle still on the alter. He picked it up and went to find Pegasus. When the horse saw Bellerophon with the bridle, he came to him an let the hero ride him. While riding Pegasus, Bellerophon killed the Chimaera. He then tried to fly up Mt. Olympus on Pegasus's back. Zeus became outraged at this, and sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus. Pegasus bucked, and Bellerophon fell down to earth. Athena spared his life by allowing him to land on soft ground. However, Bellerophon spent the rest of his life miserably, as a blind cripple. Pegasus found a sanctuary on the side of Mount Olmypus and was allowed to stay there. He spent the rest of his days carrying thunderbolts for Zeus. Pegasus chose his mate, Ocyrrhoe (also known as Euippe), and thus began the family of winged horses. On the last day of Pegasus's life, Zeus turned him into a constellation. However, one feather fell to earth near a city called Tarsus, thus its name*.

I know most of this is already on Wikipedia's article on Pegasus, but that's why I need the other odd-ball info so much.

• I don't get why Tarsus's name has to do with Pegasus...I looked it up and the article said it had to do with being named after a pegan god. Clarification on this would be nice. :)

thanks, though, I.W.! --ElvenLady~HobbitGirl 00:54, 6 March 2007 (UTC)ElvenLady~HobbitGirl

Perhaps Zeus-Jupiter is the intended Pagan god, but as Tarhunz, whom, I believe, was Baal Tars. 2601:1C0:CA00:7720:2D7E:39F0:FA81:9394 (talk) 16:43, 2 March 2023 (UTC)

Pegasuses?!?

What educated source would possibly call the plural that? This should be deleted. the plural is pegasi

Merriam Webster: Main Entry: Peg·a·sus Pronunciation: 'pe-g&-s&s Function: noun Etymology: Latin (genitive Pegasi), from Greek PEgasos —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.44.31.196 (talk) 16:19, 20 March 2007 (UTC).

• Actually, Pegasus was originally a Greek word, and the plural for Greek words of this sort is “–odes”, not “–i”. The problem arises when one considers only the Latin genitive form “Pegasi”, but this is normally used only for stars in the constellation Pegasus, not for the mythical horse. A similar case of confused plurals can be seen in the Oxford English Dictionary entry for “octopus”, where it lists the correct Greek plural as “octopodes” and the correct Latin plural as “octopi”. Because of this confusion, I suggest that we compromise and leave the plural form as “Pegasuses”, which is also acceptable. AstroPig7 13:04, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Genitive means POSSESSIVE. It doesn't make sense to use that word as a plural form of a noun. There CAN'T be a plural for Pegasus, since it is the name of one specific, unique creature, and not just a generic term for winged horses. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.38.252.197 (talk) 09:28, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

• CORRECTION: The correct Greek plural of “Pegasus” is “Pegisides” (ref. Liddell and Scott’s Greek–English Lexicon), and the correct English plural is either “Pegasi” or “Pegasusses”. I dislike the look of the latter, but I’ll leave its fate up to the consensus of the other editors. AstroPig7 14:46, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

No, I definately don't think "pegasuses" is acceptable. It sounds, well.. childish, even. The Latin pluralisation of such words is also by far the more common usage over original Greecian plurals or.. I have to admit the Liddel-Scott work is a take I've never heard before. Octopus/octopi, campus/campi, cactus/cacti, ect. Regardless of language dominance, "pegasuses" is wrong and decidedly lowbrow for an excyclopedia. Angel the Techrat 15:54, 3 May 2007 (UTC)

My question now is how common is the word “Pegasi” outside of astronomy? To my knowledge it isn’t (even in heraldry the pluralization is a mixed bag), which is why I wanted to discuss this on a technical level. By the way, “campus” was originally a Latin word, so it’s a non-example of Greek pluralization versus Latin pluralization. Also, according to the OED, “cactuses” is the more common pluralization of “cactus”, which just exemplifies the confusion regarding these words. I won’t make this more of an argument than it already is and accept “Pegasi” without further complaint, but considering the support of the OED, I would hesitate to call “pegasusses” lowbrow (although I might call my mistaken spelling “pegasuses” that). AstroPig7 13:05, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

• Removed erroneous statement. AstroPig7 13:09, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
• Even within astronomy, 'Pegasi' is genitive singular, not nominative plural. Agemegos 01:59, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

• In Latin 'Pegasus' (And in Greek 'Pegasos') is a proper noun, the name of an unique individual. It is not a word for 'winged horse'. There is and can be no plural of 'Pegasus' any more than there is a plural of 'Oprah Winfrey'. If we extend the proper noun 'Pegasus' to a common noun 'pegasus', we do so in English, produce as a result an English word, and must inflect it using English rules. A Latin (or Greek) plural is justified only if the word can be attested as a common noun in Latin (or Greek).

I suggest that an encyclopaedia entry on an unique individual does not need a discussion of the plural of his name. We don't discuss the plural of 'Hercules' on the page about Hercules. We don't discuss the plural of 'Catherine the Great' on the page about Catherine the Great. Insofar as winged horses may be called 'pegasi' as, say, an heraldic charge or part of some mythological or fictional species, the plural form should be discussed in a separate article on that species, or at very least in separate a section at the end of the article on Pegasus, the son of Poseidon and mount of Bellerophon. Agemegos 01:53, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

• Actually, it is common to pluralize a name like Oprah Winfrey. It might not be correct canonical English, but it's not unusual to say something like "What this world needs is more Oprah Winfreys" or "It would take a lot of Oprah Winfreys to read all those books." The same sorts of things could be said about many Pegasuses. However, you're correct in that it would be referring to a plural number of a unique entity, and not a generic plural of winged horses.

It would see that the people at Hasbro reject the notion that you cannot (or should not) use a fake-Latinate plural "pegasi" and with their My Little Pony brand they've mainstreamed the term pegasi for a whole generation as a generic term for winged horses. -- 109.77.193.38 (talk) 15:49, 22 October 2021 (UTC)

Race of winged horses?

I'd like a primary source for this. This is the first time I've ever heard of a race of winged horses, and I'd like to include the original source(s). T@nn 08:13, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Re: Race of Winged Horses

Um...I got my information on the "Race of Winged Horses", as it is called above, here on Wikipedia. I'm sure that with research there would be other sites backing this up, but I'm almost positive that there IS a "race" (let's just call it "family") of winged horses. NOT unicorns or whatever the plural of that is (those have a single horn on their foreheads), but horses that have wings.

--ElvenLady~HobbitGirl 02:46, 13 April 2007 (UTC)ElvenLady~HobbitGirl

Tarsus

I'm inclined to delete the bracketed bit - (hence its name) - as the actual Tarsus page's information on the city's name appears to contradict the bracketed information on this page. There are ties to Pegasus, but not in the way that this page makes it appear (no mention of a feather on the Tarsus page). Further, the bracketed bit makes it seem as if Pegasus is the only source of the city's name, which doesn't appear to be so on the Tarsus page. Thoughts? Ultatri 15:03, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Tarsus

I have to admit that I’m also confused about the relevance of Pegasus's fallen feather to the name of the city of Tarsus. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, ταρσός means “the flat of the foot between the toes and the heel; also the rim of the eyelid”, and the Wikipedia article on Tarsus doesn’t give relevant backing, either. I don’t see the relevance, so I’m nominating this statement for deletion. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by AstroPig7 (talk • contribs) 15:35, 1 May 2007 (UTC).

It is a legend. It doesn't need to be true!!! Wake up! Instead of deleting it, you could say that the name of the city of Tarsus was believed to come from this story. It might have been true and we get to know the legend.

Persian ?

Does it have any connection with the Persian word "Pegah" (پگاه ) that means "dawn"? --Alborz Fallah 17:35, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

The Shape of the constellation

Through checking the web I found many depictions of the pegasus constellation and none of them look like the one shown in the .gif image, i.e http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/constellations/maps/Pegasus.jpg the one shown in the article seems to elaborate witch is quite unusual for a constellation, is this correct? or should the image be changed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.123.110.70 (talk) 19:46, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Immortal

The "death" section says Pegasus was immortal, which is a contradiction. By "immortal" did the author mean something metaphorical with the constellation, or did the author mean "mortal" instead? Dwr12 (talk) 04:27, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

It used to say "Pegasus was not immortal". Somebody removed the "not" - maybe just vandalism. --Zundark (talk) 08:16, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

French wikipedia for "Pegasus"

Hello, i'm completing the article on the franch wikipédia about Pegasus. You can see it here : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9gase_(mythologie). Can you translate it for here ? my english level is really too low to do that... --Tsaag Valren (talk) 23:06, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

I could try to help you. My French is horribly elementary. Um, is the below comment vandalism? It's kinda useless... ^suzumebachi٭_secret 17:31, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Pegasus is an actual real animal. It is normally never seen because it is extremly shy. Some hikers in Europe claim they saw and brought it back they put it in a mueseum and it quickly escaped. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.56.37.54 (talk) 14:58, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Heh, Suzu, whatever happened to those articles I gave you about vandalism? If you think it is useless (which it is) then undo it, and leave a message on the person's talk page with the {{subst:uw-unsor1}} template, because it is unsourced. ~Rhana~{♦} ^{talk page} 19:44, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Um... I've seen that YOU have reverted non-vandalism edits. Go contribute/expand this page or something... ^suzumebachi٭_secret 22:44, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

Pegasus and Pihassasas [sic]

The following has been posted at User talk:Kubigula:

Your insertion at Pegasus. that the name's origins may come from the word in the Luwian language: pihassas, meaning "lightning"... "or, you added, " from Pihassasas, the name of an ancient weather god meaning "god of lightning"" has been commented out as unattested at Google Scholar or JSTOR. Can you provide a published citation for Pihassasas, aside from Wikipedia mirrors on the Internet? You needn't contact me directly: Talk:Pegasus would be the appropriate place. Thank you.Wetman (talk) 20:05, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

I think you have the wrong person. I haven't made any substantive edits to this article - at most I may have done a vandalism reversion. I take no position on the issue above.--Kubigula (talk) 03:58, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

It is true, here's the sources here in english : http://books.google.com/books?id=hzfsfoJc1CwC&lpg=PA559&dq=pihassas&hl=fr&pg=PA559#v=onepage&q=pihassas&f=false and here in french : http://books.google.com/books?id=BY9pQIvc4-oC&pg=PA303&dq=P%C3%A9gase+dieu+louvite&hl=fr&ei=F8srTMCYGZWWOMymqbgJ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=P%C3%A9gase%20dieu%20louvite&f=false . Sorry my Google book is in french too. --Tsaag Valren (talk) 09:15, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

A Pegasus is Magik — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.167.89.105 (talk) 04:32, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Etymology

Pegasus: winged horse in Gk. mythology, late 14c., from L., from Gk. Pegasos, usually said to be from pege "spring, font" (pl. pegai), especially in "springs of Ocean," near which Medusa was said to have been killed by Perseus (Pegasus sprang from her blood). But this may be folk etymology, and the suffix -asos suggests a pre-Gk. origin.

from: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=Pegasus&searchmode=none

Hieroglyphic Hittite asu, asuwa (horse) - this form made some scientists say that *-k- in *ekwo- was palatal *-k'- that changed into -s- in Anatolian languages; Lycian esbedi (cavalry)

from: http://indoeuro.bizland.com/project/phonetics/word3.html

In fact, Hieroglyphic Hittite = Hieroglyphic Luwian!

Asu(Luwian) > Asos (with Greek -os suffix!)

Pege(Greek) = Pege(Luwian) = "spring, font"

Pegasos(Greek) = Pegasus(Latin)= "spring-horse" Böri (talk) 14:00, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

The second paragraph of the main article, under Etymology, asserting an origin in the Luwian Pihassas, seems most unsatisfactory, not least because is does not cite a specific source. As sometimes seems to be the case, respected scholars can get away with the occasional blooper, which is at first accepted on the strength of their reputations.

I see nothing wrong with the previously cited opinion of Hesiod, that the name of Pegasus is based on the stem: Φηγη (pēgē) "spring, well". This is at least consistent with the known strong association between Pegasus and well-springs. The 'sus' suffix seems problematic, unless relationships between other ancient languages are taken into account. For example, the Hebrew word for a horse is סוס (pronounced 'sus'). And the ancient Anatolian town of Efes (Ephesus), which was famed for horse-racing, is rendered in Greek as Φσος (Phesos).

Does anyone here know if scholarly opinions might have moved on enough to rationalise this section? --DStanB (talk) 20:38, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Pedigree contradiction?

The article intro states definitively that Pegasus was sired by Poseidon. Later the Birth section indicates this as just one of three stories. The pedigree table falls back to the assumption of the introduction. Can anyone clarify this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.11.189.157 (talk) 14:52, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

I can clarify it, but I'm french and my english is bad : Pedigree of Pegasus is made with the Theogony of Hésiode, who is the most ancien source about the myth. It is Ovide who write later in the Métamorphoses that Pegasus born from his mother's blood. --Tsaag Valren (talk) 09:12, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Individual or race?

Is Pegasus supposed to be the name of that specific individual horse, or the name for "winged horses" in general? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.211.125.254 (talk) 11:18, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Pegasus is the proper noun or name of this specific and unique mythological creature as described in the article. There was no second individual or "race" of such creatures - even his mythological brother was not described as a horse with wings.

In our days it became common to call some phantasy creatures which are depicted as winged horses sometimes as a Pegasus, means in such contexts Pegasus is used as a general term.

Besides this, in other contexts existed winged horses afaik only as depictions of wind horses - which had nothing to do with Pegasus except the depiction (but windhorses were not always depicted as winged horse). Bangalorius (talk) 09:40, 8 May 2012 (UTC)

Pegasus is a single pterippus among the race pterippi.--2602:306:B856:4600:7412:2D85:AAC9:BD65 (talk) 16:35, 19 August 2015 (UTC)

Talking point: The article says "Although often misused in popular culture, the term "Pegasus" is a proper noun, referring to a particular character, whereas the term "pterippus" (plural: "pterippi") is the generic name for the species of winged horses." I would like to point out that there is no source for this, and in fact 1.1 out-right states that Pegasus can be a name for the generic creature type. I'm sure this bit was accurate 10 years ago, but frankly in modern culture if you went outside and asked a person what a pegasus was, they'd say and mean a generic flying horse unless they studied Greek mythology. It's important to keep the information about pterripus, but honestly flying horses are not commonly called that. I'm not good at writing, and don't feel I should be changing any articles, (I tend to ramble) but wikipedia should be a living repository of knowledge. As language and information changes, it needs to reflect that. Can someone more succinct than I update the page appropriately, if this makes sense? 2604:6000:1413:80C3:6982:77E:4548:2B4A (talk) 22:51, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

References

Do you have a WP:source for this?--Mr Fink (talk) 23:16, 10 March 2019 (UTC)

I need to ask for a source on the noun "pterippus". As far as I know, it's not even a real Ancient Greek word. The closest is πτερόιππος (pteroippos), but that's an adjective, which means "riding a winged horse" and didn't get adopted in Latin. The Romans (and their English translators) had no problem naming winged horses "pegasi", as evident from Pliny's Nat. Hist. 8.72: "Aethiopia generat (...) pinnatos equos et cornibus armatos, quos pegasos vocant". Translation by J. Bostock and H.T. Riley: "Æthiopia produces (...) horses with wings, and armed with horns, which are called pegasi;" Unless a source for that "pterippus" can be procured, I suggest removing it and simply calling Pegasus a winged horse like every other encyclopedia.--2A02:A31C:823F:8380:E0D2:F96C:D859:9374 (talk) 18:02, 10 May 2019 (UTC)

I agree this needs a source, or it needs to be removed. Paul August ☎ 21:45, 10 May 2019 (UTC)

I see now there's more to this than I thought. Sorry about that. But as mentioned, Merriam-Webster has an entry about it.^[1] I don't think we are required to find the etymological origin (MW says: New Latin, from Greek pteropous wing-footed) for us to conclude notable usage. As an aside, I also notice it used widely in our article on Flying horses but not in List of winged horses. El_C 22:11, 10 May 2019 (UTC)

@El C:. I'm confused, the Merriam Webster entry is for Pteropus the genus of fruit bats, not for "pterippus". That entry does mentions the Greek word "pteropous" meaning wing-footed (see LSJ, s.v. πτερό-πους) but there is no evidence that the ancient Greeks, had the concept of a species of winged horses of which Pegasus was a member. I think "pterippus" used in this way is a modern neologism. Paul August ☎ 11:17, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, I misread. Yes, you're likely right. I suggest we strictly define it as such or remove mention of it altogether. Sorry for the confusion. El_C 16:16, 11 May 2019 (UTC)

I've removed the mention of "pterippus", per the above discussion. Paul August ☎ 19:23, 12 May 2019 (UTC)