Unicorn of the Sea

“Bye Buddy, I hope you find your dad!” might be my favorite line from one of my favorite Christmas movies. Truly a masterpiece of writing in my humble opinion.

I cherished it so much that I created this Winter Wonderland diorama and added Mr. Narwhal to it so the library could really embrace the whimsy of the winter season. Mr. Narwhal received lots of compliments I might add so it was totally worth it. Admittedly, how many of us wouldn’t want Mr. Narwhal to wish us good luck on our next adventure?

On my latest rewatch of Elf, the character of Mr. Narwhal led me down a path to explore its adorable nickname of the unicorn of the sea. We have many cute names for animals like trash panda for raccoons, water dog for otters, and perhaps most magical of all unicorn of the sea for narwhals! Never mind that the horn on a narwhal is actually a tooth, let’s embrace the wonderment that is their tusk that makes them the closest thing to a real-life mythical creature.

What I find most fascinating of all is that the phrasing of calling them unicorns of the sea is a lot older than I would have thought. It felt like a creation of our modern times affinity for giving animals cute nicknames but it turns out people have been calling narwhals by that name since the early 1800s. In fact, Jules Verne references a “sea unicorn” in his 1870 work Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

I guess considering the mythology of ancestral humans I shouldn’t be surprised by the connection they made between unicorns and narwhals. Medieval Europeans even believed the narwhal tusks had the same magical properties purported to be found in a unicorn horn. What caught me off guard is just how early unicorn of the sea was coined. I tend to think whimsy is a more modern creation but once again my preconceived notions are foiled by authors of the past.

Just for funsies, I looked up the frequency of the word whimsy and it enjoyed a grand ole time of use in literature in the 1750s so clearly people fully embraced whimsical turns of phrase long before I imagined as well.

I wasn’t quite sure where this topic would take me as I didn’t have a lot to say about narwhals and their adorable nickname but I knew some rambling would appear as it has but I think part of the reason I started this newsletter was so you could get a glimpse into who I am and I think rambling does achieve that.

But I digress, I’d love to hear some of your favorite nicknames for animals I know there are so many out there I bet there are ones I haven’t heard before and I probably need the cuteness in my life!

So thanks for reading and I hope you’ll stick around for next time!