Currently, the word "pegasus" is being aliased to "pterippus", but I believe it to be unreasonable. A winged horse reminiscent of the mythical Pegasus is normally called a pegasus in fiction. Such generalization is nothing special; the same thing happened to Minotaur, Hydra, Phoenix, Cerberus and many other creatures. Even Roman authors, when describing winged horses, called them pegasi (Æthiopia produces (...) horses with wings, and armed with horns, which are called pegasi ). Oxford Dictionary permits the usage as a common noun for imaginary winged horses; maybe some others too.

On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be such a word as "pterippus". It doesn't exist in either Greek or Latin. The closest is πτερόιππος (pteroippos) but it's an adjective, which means "riding a winged horse". I strongly suspect that removing the "o" from the prefix ptero- is grammatically incorrect and "pterippus" was simply invented by a person who didn't know much about the Greek language (Rich's Pegopedia claims coinage). As far as English dictionaries go, there's dead silence.

For a time, this word was in the Wikipedia article about Pegasus, but after a discussion it was removed. Perhaps a similar discussion should take place here. I simply cannot agree with the statement that "pterippus is the true name of the species".

Wasn't Pegasus a creatures name, not the species?

On Earth, he was known as Pegasus, the first pterippus. Here, he is known as Verasant, but they are one and the same. Would you like to hear the story?

https://authorkristlthompson.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/hello-world/

Versperus said:
Wasn't Pegasus a creatures name, not the species?

I explained it in my post. Yes, it was a single winged horse, but now winged horses are named after him.

FrozenPineapple said:
I explained it in my post. Yes, it was a single winged horse, but now winged horses are named after him.

So by going by that logic, should dogs be refereed to as Lassie, or is it possible that people for the lack of better knowledge just called something they saw that resembled a recurring character in media the name of said character do to never being corrected on the matter since the proper knowledge on the topic is sparse in this modern era?

Frankly I just don't think names should be used to define a species simply because people don't know the correct name for the species.

Versperus said:
So by going by that logic, should dogs be refereed to as Lassie, or is it possible that people for the lack of better knowledge just called something they saw that resembled a recurring character in media the name of said character do to never being corrected on the matter since the proper knowledge on the topic is sparse in this modern era?

Frankly I just don't think names should be used to define a species simply because people don't know the correct name for the species.

A better analogy would be "should Canis lupus familiaris be referred to as dogs?" to which my answer would be yes, of course.

Also your post is coming off as very smug and condescending.

I'd agree with the OP here. The pterippus tag is just going to be confusing to the majority of people.

Personally, I'd have gone with pegasus as the species name on account of users knowing what that refered to, more so than pterippus. Besides, names being repurposed for generic stuff happens quite a bit — Hamburg, Velcro, etc.

FrozenPineapple said:
Such generalization is nothing special; the same thing happened to Minotaur, Hydra, Phoenix, Cerberus and many other creatures.

If we want to get technical, the Minotaur's given name was Asterion. So that would be comparable to Pegasus as name versus pterippus/pegasus the species.

Phoenix can refer to more than one species of bird. We normally think of it in relation to the bennu of Africa and Arabia, but there's also the unrelated feng-hwang of China. In a sense, that makes "phoenix" similar to "pterippus".

Both the Lernean Hydra and Cerberus match your statement, though.

It should be noted that Pegasus wasn't the only winged horse of antiquity. There were a number, from al-Buraq and Haizum of Islamic tradition to Chollima of the Far East. One wonders what those cultures named the species.:/

Clawdragons said:
A better analogy would be "should Canis lupus familiaris be referred to as dogs?" to which my answer would be yes, of course.

Also your post is coming off as very smug and condescending.

smug isn't the intent, but on that note what character was named dog?

The term was chosen on account of a) existing^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} and b) providing a more easier differentiation between the two most widely known characters (the pegasus from greek mythology and the disney character) and all the other random winged horses and OC characters.

Googling the term brings up what it's supposed to mean quite easily, as does clicking our wiki page.

NotMeNotYou said:
The term was chosen on account of a) existing^{[1] [2] [3] [4]} and b) providing a more easier differentiation between the two most widely known characters (the pegasus from greek mythology and the disney character) and all the other random winged horses and OC characters.

That's good to know, and thanks for the links. :)

NotMeNotYou said:
The term was chosen on account of a) existing

Please check this page again: [1] I think the TVTropes redirect mechanism is doing tricks on you. All examples except one are called "pegasus" and the exception uses "a pterippi", oddly enough.

Whatever value differentiating the species from the character has, it is made moot by making "pegasus" an alias. This way you still need to have pegasus_(greek_mythology) (empty tag) and pegasus_(disney). The only thing this achieves is forcing people to call their pegasi a different name made up by some guy on the Internet. And like I said, "calling winged horses pegasi is wrong" is a false statement.

And aside, why do you need to differentiate Pegasus from any pegasus? The tag "minotaur" is deemed just fine, never mind if it's the dude killed by Theseus or the son of Alessia from Elder Scrolls. The tag "hydra" is fine, never mind if it has its heads chopped off by Heracles or is chasing ponies across Froggy Bottom Bog. Why single out "pegasus"?

FrozenPineapple said:
Please check this page again: [1] I think the TVTropes redirect mechanism is doing tricks on you. All examples except one are called "pegasus" and the exception uses "a pterippi", oddly enough.

Whatever value differentiating the species from the character has, it is made moot by making "pegasus" an alias. This way you still need to have pegasus_(greek_mythology) (empty tag) and pegasus_(disney). The only thing this achieves is forcing people to call their pegasi a different name made up by some guy on the Internet. And like I said, "calling winged horses pegasi is wrong" is a false statement.

And aside, why do you need to differentiate Pegasus from any pegasus? The tag "minotaur" is deemed just fine, never mind if it's the dude killed by Theseus or the son of Alessia from Elder Scrolls. The tag "hydra" is fine, never mind if it has its heads chopped off by Heracles or is chasing ponies across Froggy Bottom Bog. Why single out "pegasus"?

To clarify it's not singled out, the species tags have been undergoing a gradual overhaul.

FrozenPineapple said:
Please check this page again: [1] I think the TVTropes redirect mechanism is doing tricks on you. All examples except one are called "pegasus" and the exception uses "a pterippi", oddly enough.

Pterippus is explicitly listed as an alternative title for the page at the bottom of the page, it's not just a redirect trick.

FrozenPineapple said:
Whatever value differentiating the species from the character has, it is made moot by making "pegasus" an alias. This way you still need to have pegasus_(greek_mythology) (empty tag) and pegasus_(disney). The only thing this achieves is forcing people to call their pegasi a different name made up by some guy on the Internet. And like I said, "calling winged horses pegasi is wrong" is a false statement.

And aside, why do you need to differentiate Pegasus from any pegasus? The tag "minotaur" is deemed just fine, never mind if it's the dude killed by Theseus or the son of Alessia from Elder Scrolls. The tag "hydra" is fine, never mind if it has its heads chopped off by Heracles or is chasing ponies across Froggy Bottom Bog. Why single out "pegasus"?

If those two examples mix the species with the actual character they still need to be split up as well.

Also, all names are made up at some point, somewhere. If a word comes along that's useful it will be utilized, this word is useful to us, so here we are.

Would we really change all the tag names just to follow the original species names, no matter how obscure and unused they may be?

Good grief, what is this site coming to anyway? Are we just going to use unfamiliar names for every species now? Please stop!

Versperus said:
To clarify it's not singled out, the species tags have been undergoing a gradual overhaul.

I've noticed, per my arguments with "kangaroo" being aliased. What's going on here is something I cannot support. How many of us are even scientists and/or use these terms on a daily basis?

PheagleAdler said:

I've noticed, per my arguments with "kangaroo" being aliased. What's going on here is something I cannot support. How many of us are even scientists and/or use these terms on a daily basis?

It's not really a concern if people know the proper name for it pretense as the alias redirects, if anything the new aliases are a learning experience.

PheagleAdler said:
Good grief, what is this site coming to anyway? Are we just going to use unfamiliar names for every species now? Please stop!

I've noticed, per my arguments with "kangaroo" being aliased. What's going on here is something I cannot support. How many of us are even scientists and/or use these terms on a daily basis?

people can still search and use familiar terms with literally no issues due the aliasing system. you can still search, tag, and blacklist pegasus just like before.

Versperus said:
It's not really a concern if people know the proper name for it pretense as the alias redirects, if anything the new aliases are a learning experience.

It's not a proper name. In my post, I explained why, citing dictionaries and Pliny's Natural History.

FrozenPineapple said:
It's not a proper name. In my post, I explained why, citing dictionaries and Pliny's Natural History.

I was replying to their comment regarding real species

hiekkapillu said:
people can still search and use familiar terms with literally no issues due the aliasing system. you can still search, tag, and blacklist pegasus just like before.

and there's no reason to change the tags in the first place.

What is this whole thing? Change just for the sake of changing? Busy work because someone got bored?

Pterrippus sounds like pterodactyl or pterranodon to me.

What's next? Turning "unicorn" into "monoceros"?

AlexYorim said:
Pterrippus sounds like pterodactyl or pterranodon to me.

What's next? Turning "unicorn" into "monoceros"?

Those appear to be different things

Versperus said:
Those appear to be different things

Unicorns are monoceros, just like triceratops has 3 horns, that's what the names mean.