CAPRICORN, in astronomy, one of the 12 signs
of the zodiac. See ASTRONOMY, n° 206.
The ancients accounted Capricorn the tenth sign; and when the sun arrived thereat, it made the winter solstice with regard to our hemisphere: but the stars having advanced a whole sign towards the east, Capricorn is now rather the 11th sign; and it is at the sun's entry into Sagittary that the solstice happens, though the ancient manner of speaking is still retained.
This sign is represented on ancient monuments, medals, &c. as having the forepart of a goat and the hind-part of a fish, which is the form of an Ægipan; sometimes simply under the form of a goat.