Caballus
/kəˈbæl.əs/noun
A Latin word for a workhorse, nag, or horse; it later became the source of many Romance words for “horse.”
Did you know?Latin caballus is usually thought to be a non-classical or colloquial word that displaced the more formal equus in much of Romance, and its descendants still power everyday words like Spanish caballo and French cheval.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*h₁éḱwos
“horse”
Classical Latin
Latin
equus
“the standard literary word for a horse”
Late Latin
Latin
caballus
“a workhorse, nag, or horse”
Old French
Old French
cheval
“horse”
Middle English
English
cavalry
“mounted soldiers; horse troops”
Modern English
English
cavalry
“soldiers who fight on horseback”