{"id":15377,"date":"2018-04-14T14:02:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T13:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/blog\/?p=15377"},"modified":"2025-08-07T12:12:55","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T12:12:55","slug":"horses-chariots-and-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=15377","title":{"rendered":"Horses, chariots and cars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today I saw a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ukkonen7\/posts\/605897736421311\">post on Facebook<\/a> asking why words for horse are so different in languages like English and German, so I thought I&#8217;d investigate.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/omniglot\/5811916493\/in\/photolist-9RzAhM-2iirxk6-WEnqSQ-WDnrrb-WCMvFR-5dBCAo\" title=\"Newborough beach\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5038\/5811916493_08bbd5296b_z.jpg\" alt=\"Newborough beach\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In English horse-related words include horse, stallion (male horse), mare (female horse), foal (young horse), filly (young female horse), colt (young male horse), pony (a small breed of horse), palfrey (a small horse with a smooth, ambling gait) and equine (a horse or horse-like animal; related to horses).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Horse<\/strong> comes from the Middle English <em>horse \/ hors<\/em>, from the Old English <em>hors<\/em> (horse), from the Proto-Germanic <em>*hruss\u0105<\/em> (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*\u1e31r\u0325sos<\/em> (horse), from Proto-Indo-European <em>*\u1e31ers-<\/em> (to run) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/horse\">source<\/a>]. This is also the root of the Proto-Celtic word <em>*karros<\/em> (wagon), from which we get the Latin <em>currus<\/em> (chariot, wagon), and the English words car, cart and chariot, and related words in other languages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stallion<\/strong> comes from the Middle English <em>stalion<\/em>, from the Middle French <em>estalon<\/em> and is of Germanic origin [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/stallion\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mare<\/strong> comes from the Middle English <em>mare \/ mere<\/em>, from the Old English <em>mere \/ miere<\/em> (female horse, mare), from the Proto-Germanic <em>*marhij\u014d<\/em> (female horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/mare#English\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Foal<\/strong> comes from the Middle English <em>fole<\/em>, from the Old English <em>fola<\/em>, from the Proto-Germanic <em>*ful\u00f4<\/em>, from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*p\u014dlH-<\/em> (animal young) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/foal\">source<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Filly<\/strong> comes from the Old Norse <em>fylja<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/filly\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Colt<\/strong> comes from the Old English <em>colt<\/em> (young donkey, young camel), from the Proto-Germanic <em>*kultaz<\/em> (plump; stump; thick shape, bulb), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*gelt-<\/em> (something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb), from <em>*gel-<\/em> (to ball up, amass) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/colt\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pony<\/strong> comes from the Scots <em>powny<\/em>, from the Middle French <em>poulenet<\/em> (little foal), from the Late Latin <em>pullanus<\/em> (young of an animal), from <em>pullus<\/em> (foal) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/pony\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Palfrey<\/strong> comes from the Anglo-Norman <em>palefrei<\/em> (steed), from the Old French <em>palefroi<\/em>, from the Late Latin <em>paraver\u0113dus<\/em> (post horse, spare horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/palfrey\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Equine<\/strong> comes from the Latin <em>equ\u012bnus<\/em> (of or pertaining to horses), from <em>equus<\/em> (horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/equine\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The equivalent words in other European languages include:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Germanic languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>German<\/th>\n<th>Dutch<\/th>\n<th>Danish<\/th>\n<th>Norwegian<\/th>\n<th>Swedish<\/th>\n<th>Icelandic<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>horse<\/td>\n<td>Pferd<\/td>\n<td>Paard<\/td>\n<td>hest<\/td>\n<td>hest<\/td>\n<td>h\u00e4st<\/td>\n<td>hestur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stallion<\/td>\n<td>Hengst<\/td>\n<td>hengst<\/td>\n<td>hingst<\/td>\n<td>hingst<\/td>\n<td>hingst<\/td>\n<td>gra\u00f0hestur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>mare<\/td>\n<td>Stute<\/td>\n<td>merrie<\/td>\n<td>hoppe<\/td>\n<td>hoppe<\/td>\n<td>sto<br \/>\nm\u00e4rr<\/td>\n<td>hryssa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>foal<\/td>\n<td>Fohlen<\/td>\n<td>veulen<\/td>\n<td>f\u00f8l<\/td>\n<td>f\u00f8ll<br \/>\nfole<\/td>\n<td>f\u00f6l<\/td>\n<td>folald<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The German word <em>Pferd<\/em> and the Dutch <em>paard<\/em> come from the Middle High German <em>phert \/ pherit \/ pferift<\/em> (riding horse), from the Old High German <em>pherit \/ pfarifrit \/ parafred<\/em>, from the Late Latin <em>paraver\u0113dus<\/em> (substitute post horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Pferd\">source<\/a>], from <em>para-<\/em>, from the Ancient Greek <em>\u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac<\/em> (from, by, near) &amp; <em>ver\u0113dus<\/em> (a fast or light breed of horse), from the Proto-Celtic <em>*u\u0278or\u0113dos<\/em> (horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/paraveredus#Latin\">source<\/a>], *<em>u\u0278o-<\/em> (under) &amp; <em>*r\u0113do-<\/em> (to ride; riding, chariot), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*(H)reyd\u02b0-<\/em> (to ride) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/u%C9%B8or%C4%93dos\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The words <em>hengst<\/em> and <em>hingst<\/em> come from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*\u1e31an\u1e31est- \/ *kankest-<\/em> (horse), which is also the root of the Welsh, Cornish and Breton words for mare, and of the Old English word for horse or stallion, <em>hengest<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Romance \/ Italic languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>French<\/th>\n<th>Italian<\/th>\n<th>Romanian<\/th>\n<th>Spanish<\/th>\n<th>Portuguese<\/th>\n<th>Latin<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>horse<\/td>\n<td>cheval<\/td>\n<td>cavallo<\/td>\n<td>cal<\/td>\n<td>caballo<\/td>\n<td>cavalo<\/td>\n<td>equus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stallion<\/td>\n<td>\u00e9talon<\/td>\n<td>stalone<\/td>\n<td>arm\u0103sar<\/td>\n<td>padrillo<\/td>\n<td>garanh\u00e3o<\/td>\n<td>celo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>mare<\/td>\n<td>jument<\/td>\n<td>giumenta<br \/>\ncavalla<\/td>\n<td>iap\u0103<\/td>\n<td>yegua<\/td>\n<td>\u00e9gua<\/td>\n<td>equa<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>foal<\/td>\n<td>poulain<\/td>\n<td>puldero<\/td>\n<td>m\u00e2nz<\/td>\n<td>potro<\/td>\n<td>potro<\/td>\n<td>equuleus<br \/>\nequulus<br \/>\npullus<br \/>\nvitulus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>In Latin there was another word for horse &#8211; <em>caballus<\/em>, which was only used in poetry in Classical Latin, and was the normal word for horse in Late and Vulgar Latin. It possibly comes from the Gaulish <em>caballos<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vulgar_Latin_vocabulary\">source<\/a>]. This is also the root of the English words cavalry, cavalier, cavalcade and chivalry,<\/p>\n<p>The word <em>equus<\/em> comes from the Proto-Italic <em>*ekwos<\/em>, from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*h\u2081\u00e9\u1e31wos<\/em> (horse) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/equus\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Celtic languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>Breton<\/th>\n<th>Cornish<\/th>\n<th>Welsh<\/th>\n<th>Irish<\/th>\n<th>Manx<\/th>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>horse<\/td>\n<td>marc&#8217;h<\/td>\n<td>margh<\/td>\n<td>ceffyl<\/td>\n<td>capall<\/td>\n<td>cabbyl<\/td>\n<td>each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stallion<\/td>\n<td>marc&#8217;h<\/td>\n<td>margh<\/td>\n<td>march<br \/>\nstalwyn<\/td>\n<td>stail<\/td>\n<td>collagh<br \/>\ngrihder<\/td>\n<td>greadhair<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>mare<\/td>\n<td>kazeg<\/td>\n<td>kasek<\/td>\n<td>caseg<\/td>\n<td>l\u00e1ir<\/td>\n<td>laair<\/td>\n<td>l\u00e0ir<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>foal<\/td>\n<td>ebeul<\/td>\n<td>ebel<\/td>\n<td>ebol<\/td>\n<td>searrach<\/td>\n<td>sharragh<\/td>\n<td>searrach<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The Scottish Gaelic word for horse, <em>each<\/em>, comes from the<br \/>\nOld Irish <em>ech<\/em> (horse), from Proto-Celtic <em>*ek\u02b7os<\/em> (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*h\u2081\u00e9\u1e31wos<\/em> (horse), which is also the root of the Breton, Cornish and Welsh words for foal.<\/p>\n<p>The Breton <em>marc&#8217;h<\/em> (horse), the Cornish <em>margh<\/em> (horse) and the Welsh <em>march<\/em> (stallion) come from the Proto-Brythonic <em>*marx<\/em> (horse), from Proto-Celtic <em>*markos<\/em> (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European <em>*m\u00e1rkos<\/em> (horse). [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/markos\">source<\/a>]. This is also the root of the Irish <em>marcaigh<\/em> (to ride), the Scottish Gaelic <em>marcaich<\/em> (to ride), and the Manx <em>markiagh<\/em> (to ride).<\/p>\n<p>You can find <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2020\/01\/05\/horses\/\">more about Celtic words for horse on my Celtiadur blog<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Slavic languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>Bulgarian<\/th>\n<th>Czech<\/th>\n<th>Polish<\/th>\n<th>Russian<\/th>\n<th>Serbian<\/th>\n<th>Slovak<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>horse<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u043d<\/td>\n<td>k\u016f\u0148<\/td>\n<td>k\u00f3n<br \/>\nkonno<\/td>\n<td>\u043b\u043e\u0448\u0430\u0434\u044c<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u045a<\/td>\n<td>k\u00f4\u0148<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stallion<\/td>\n<td>\u0436\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0435\u0446<\/td>\n<td>h\u0159ebec<\/td>\n<td>ogier<br \/>\nrumak<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u043d\u044c<br \/>\n\u0436\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0435\u0446<\/td>\n<td>\u0436\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0435\u0446<\/td>\n<td>\u017erebec<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>mare<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u0431\u0438\u043b\u0430<\/td>\n<td>klisna<\/td>\n<td>klacz<br \/>\nkoby\u0142a<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u0431\u044b\u043b\u0430<\/td>\n<td>\u043a\u043e\u0431\u0438\u043b\u0430<\/td>\n<td>kobyla<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>foal<\/td>\n<td>\u0436\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0435\u0446<\/td>\n<td>h\u0159\u00edb\u011b<\/td>\n<td>\u017arebak<\/td>\n<td>\u0436\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0431\u0451\u043d\u043e\u043a<\/td>\n<td>\u0444\u043e\u0430\u043b<\/td>\n<td>\u017erieb\u00e4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>The Russian word for horse, <em>\u043b\u043e\u0448\u0430\u0434\u044c<\/em>, is a borrowing from a Turkic language, probably Tatar [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%D0%BB%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%8C\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The other Slavic words for horse come from the Proto-Slavic <em>konj\u044c<\/em> (horse), of unceratin origin [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Slavic\/konj%D1%8C\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Other European languages<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<th>Latvian<\/th>\n<th>Lithuanian<\/th>\n<th>Albanian<\/th>\n<th>Greek<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>horse<\/td>\n<td>zirgs<\/td>\n<td>arklys<\/td>\n<td>kal\u00eb<\/td>\n<td>\u03ac\u03bb\u03bf\u03b3\u03bf<br \/>\n\u03af\u03c0\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>stallion<\/td>\n<td>\u0113rze<\/td>\n<td>erelis<\/td>\n<td>hamshor<\/td>\n<td>\u03b5\u03c0\u03b9\u03b2\u03ae\u03c4\u03bf\u03c1\u03b1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>mare<\/td>\n<td>\u0137\u0113ve<\/td>\n<td>kumel\u0117<\/td>\n<td>merak<\/td>\n<td>\u03c6\u03bf\u03c1\u03ac\u03b4\u03b1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>foal<\/td>\n<td>kume\u013ci<\/td>\n<td>kumeliukas<\/td>\n<td>pjell\u00eb<\/td>\n<td>\u03c0\u03bf\u03c5\u03bb\u03ac\u03c1\u03b9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"http:\/\/dictionary.reverso.net\/\">Reverso<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linguee.com\/\">Linguee<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.bab.la\/dictionary\/\">bab.la<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/translate.google.co.uk\/\">Google Translate<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today I saw a post on Facebook asking why words for horse are so different in languages like English and German, so I thought I&#8217;d investigate. In English horse-related words include horse, stallion (male horse), mare (female horse), foal (young horse), filly (young female horse), colt (young male horse), pony (a small breed of horse), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,92,93,99,100,102,104,107,111,114,116,118,124,127,128,10,15,23,31,39,41,45,51,52,55,56,57,60,64,67,77,78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-norman","category-breton","category-bulgarian","category-czech","category-danish","category-dutch","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-gaulish","category-german","category-greek","category-icelandic","category-irish","category-italian","category-language","category-latin","category-manx","category-norwegian","category-polish","category-portuguese","category-proto-indo-european","category-romanian","category-russian","category-scots","category-scottish-gaelic","category-serbian","category-slovak","category-spanish","category-swedish","category-welsh","category-words-and-phrases"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15377"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24150,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15377\/revisions\/24150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}