# Cavalry or Calvary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 19, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277 "2009-06-19T08:09:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Brasil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a8b319/32.png) [@Brasil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brasil)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277/41 "2009-06-20T21:47:20Z")
> [@Nametag](#): > > Cite? Except the equus part, I know that. But I don’t believe that _aqva_ is Sanskrit for anything but “horse,” I don’t believe that Latin derived anything from _aqva_ but _equus_, (more accurately, that they share a common root), and I don’t believe elephants had anything to do with it. Furthermore, the word is usually considered Gaulish in origin, and was originally derogatory (I saw one theory that it’s related to words meaning “pant” (breathe hard), as in a winded horse). Its adoption by the vulgar is attributed to soldierly complaining on the Roman frontier. I don’t have an English citation, but if you understand Portuguese, you can read the page of the cavalry course from brazilian Military Academy: > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! I can translate it for you, but you must trust my translation to be accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277/42 "2009-06-20T22:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > **Brasil** : The original cavalry consisted in soldiers in platforms in the back of elephants. Soldiers in platforms? Open-toed? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277/43 "2009-06-20T22:08:48Z")
> [@Brasil](#): > > I don’t have an English citation, but if you understand Portuguese, you can read the page of the cavalry course from brazilian Military Academy: > [Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Bunker/5943/) > I can translate it for you, but you must trust my translation to be accurate. I think the Brazilian Military Academy is wrong there. There’s a lot more evidence that the world comes from the Gaulish caballos, meaning war horse. Even in modern Irish Gaelic, the word for horse is capall. And the Sanskrit word for horse is aqva. The Sanskrit for elephant is hasty. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277/44 "2009-06-20T23:06:49Z")
All the etymologies I find say caballus in Latin was a second rate “work horse”, “castrated horse”, as opposed to a first rate riding horse. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277/45 "2009-06-21T00:29:02Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > You’ve been saving that one up since before you lost your internet connection, haven’t you? No – although I was aware of the rather silly fact. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cavalry-or-calvary/500277.md?page=2)