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’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), palfrey (a small horse with a smooth, ambling gait) and equine (a horse or horse-like animal; related to horses).

Horse comes from the Middle English horse / hors, from the Old English hors (horse), from the Proto-Germanic *hrussą (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥sos (horse), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (to run) [source]. This is also the root of the Proto-Celtic word *karros (wagon), from which we get the Latin currus (chariot, wagon), and the English words car, cart and chariot, and related words in other languages.

Stallion comes from the Middle English stalion, from the Middle French estalon and is of Germanic origin [source].

Mare comes from the Middle English mare / mere, from the Old English mere / miere (female horse, mare), from the Proto-Germanic *marhijō (female horse) [source].

Foal comes from the Middle English fole, from the Old English fola, from the Proto-Germanic *fulô, from the Proto-Indo-European *pōlH- (animal young) [source]

Filly comes from the Old Norse fylja [source].

Colt comes from the Old English colt (young donkey, young camel), from the Proto-Germanic *kultaz (plump; stump; thick shape, bulb), from the Proto-Indo-European *gelt- (something round, pregnant belly, child in the womb), from *gel- (to ball up, amass) [source].

Pony comes from the Scots powny, from the Middle French poulenet (little foal), from the Late Latin pullanus (young of an animal), from pullus (foal) [source].

Palfrey comes from the Anglo-Norman palefrei (steed), from the Old French palefroi, from the Late Latin paraverēdus (post horse, spare horse) [source].

Equine comes from the Latin equīnus (of or pertaining to horses), from equus (horse) [source].

The equivalent words in other European languages include:

Germanic languages

	German	Dutch	Danish	Norwegian	Swedish	Icelandic
horse	Pferd	Paard	hest	hest	häst	hestur
stallion	Hengst	hengst	hingst	hingst	hingst	graðhestur
mare	Stute	merrie	hoppe	hoppe	sto märr	hryssa
foal	Fohlen	veulen	føl	føll fole	föl	folald

The German word Pferd and the Dutch paard come from the Middle High German phert / pherit / pferift (riding horse), from the Old High German pherit / pfarifrit / parafred, from the Late Latin paraverēdus (substitute post horse) [source], from para-, from the Ancient Greek παρά (from, by, near) & verēdus (a fast or light breed of horse), from the Proto-Celtic *uɸorēdos (horse) [source], *uɸo- (under) & *rēdo- (to ride; riding, chariot), from the Proto-Indo-European *(H)reydʰ- (to ride) [source].

The words hengst and hingst come from the Proto-Indo-European *ḱanḱest- / *kankest- (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, hengest.

Romance / Italic languages

	French	Italian	Romanian	Spanish	Portuguese	Latin
horse	cheval	cavallo	cal	caballo	cavalo	equus
stallion	étalon	stalone	armăsar	padrillo	garanhão	celo
mare	jument	giumenta cavalla	iapă	yegua	égua	equa
foal	poulain	puldero	mânz	potro	potro	equuleus equulus pullus vitulus

In Latin there was another word for horse – caballus, 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 caballos [source]. This is also the root of the English words cavalry, cavalier, cavalcade and chivalry,

The word equus comes from the Proto-Italic *ekwos, from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos (horse) [source].

Celtic languages

	Breton	Cornish	Welsh	Irish	Manx	Scottish Gaelic
horse	marc’h	margh	ceffyl	capall	cabbyl	each
stallion	marc’h	margh	march stalwyn	stail	collagh grihder	greadhair
mare	kazeg	kasek	caseg	láir	laair	làir
foal	ebeul	ebel	ebol	searrach	sharragh	searrach

The Scottish Gaelic word for horse, each, comes from the
Old Irish ech (horse), from Proto-Celtic *ekʷos (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁éḱwos (horse), which is also the root of the Breton, Cornish and Welsh words for foal.

The Breton marc’h (horse), the Cornish margh (horse) and the Welsh march (stallion) come from the Proto-Brythonic *marx (horse), from Proto-Celtic *markos (horse), from the Proto-Indo-European *márkos (horse). [source]. This is also the root of the Irish marcaigh (to ride), the Scottish Gaelic marcaich (to ride), and the Manx markiagh (to ride).

You can find more about Celtic words for horse on my Celtiadur blog

Slavic languages

	Bulgarian	Czech	Polish	Russian	Serbian	Slovak
horse	кон	kůň	kón konno	лошадь	коњ	kôň
stallion	жребец	hřebec	ogier rumak	конь жеребец	жребец	žrebec
mare	кобила	klisna	klacz kobyła	кобыла	кобила	kobyla
foal	жребец	hříbě	źrebak	жеребёнок	фоал	žriebä

The Russian word for horse, лошадь, is a borrowing from a Turkic language, probably Tatar [source].

The other Slavic words for horse come from the Proto-Slavic konjь (horse), of unceratin origin [source].

Other European languages

	Latvian	Lithuanian	Albanian	Greek
horse	zirgs	arklys	kalë	άλογο ίππος
stallion	ērze	erelis	hamshor	επιβήτορα
mare	ķēve	kumelė	merak	φοράδα
foal	kumeļi	kumeliukas	pjellë	πουλάρι

Sources: Reverso, Linguee, bab.la, Google Translate