Zu-'lkarnain, "the Two-Horned," is an Arabic epithet of Alexander, with
which legends have been connected, but which probably arose from the
horned portraits on his coins. [Capus, l.c. p. 121, says, "Iskandr
Zoulcarnein or Alexander le Cornu, horns being the emblem of strength."
- H. C.] The term appears in Chaucer (Troil. and Cress. III. 931) in the
sense of non plus: -
"I am, till God me better minde send,
At dulcarnon, right at my wittes end."
And it is said to have still colloquial existence in that sense in some
corners of England. This use is said to have arisen from the Arabic
application of the term (Bicorne) to the 47th Proposition of Euclid.
(Baber, 13; N. et E. XIV. 490; N. An. des V. xxvi. 296; Burnes,
III. 186 seqq.; Wood, 155, 244; J. A. S. B. XXII. 300; Ayeen Akbery,
II. 185; see N. and Q. 1st Series, vol. v.)
NOTE 2. - I have adopted in the text for the name of the country that one
of the several forms in the G. Text which comes nearest to the correct
name, viz. Badascian. But Balacian also appears both in that and in
Pauthier's text. This represents Balakhshan, a form also sometimes used
in the East. Hayton has Balaxcen, Clavijo Balaxia, the Catalan Map
Baldassia.
