What is or was an oliphant?

peasypod

Perhaps not what you are asking but an "Oliphaunt" is used in the Lord of the Rings story to describe a sort of giant, monstrous elephant creature. Alternatively, it is also the name of a legendary trumpet or horn, probably of ivory. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliphaunt Jan 10 05, 8:01 AM

shady shaker

Peasypeach, you are right in saying it was a trumpet. However, it was not legendary. According to "The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians", an oliphant was 'A trumpet made from an elephant's tusk, usually elaborately carved, and regarded in the Middle Ages as a symbol of authority.' Jan 10 05, 8:11 AM

picqero

Oliphant is also the name of a historic Scottish clan. See http://www.geocities.com/clanoliphant Jan 10 05, 8:16 AM

chris42

Olifant is also Dutch for Elephant. Jan 10 05, 8:25 AM

robboy

Pat Oliphant is a Pulitzer Prize winner whose political cartoons/sketches are known the world over. Jan 10 05, 10:20 AM

gmackematix

"Oliphant", as you might expect, is Old French for elephant and was the name given to the ivory horn that Roland blew at the battle of Roncesvalles in 778 to indicate his betrayal to Charlemagne. It subsequently became a general name for ivory hunting horns and also a surname. It is quite a rare surname, being shared by 1 in every 30,000 families in the US. Another famous one is Mark Oliphant, the physicist who discovered tritium and the fusion reaction that made the H-bomb possible. There is also Oliphant Jackson, whose Jackson Ratio indicates whether a tortoise is heavy enough to go into hibernation. Jan 11 05, 10:09 PM