Cavalry or Calvary?

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

I would too, but it’s nice and comfy here on my chaise lounge.

I know who Chaise Guava is, but who the heck is Chaise Lounge?

[Captain_Amazing]

@Gorsnak

Mounted on horses, but not soldiers. I’m sure that’s where the name comes from, though.

You’d think, but it’s really named after a place in Scotland.

[tim-n-va]

Common errors in English (at least one version) is given at this guy’s website: Paul Brians

[Thudlow_Boink]

From the BBQ Pit: Calvary is the hill Jesus was crucified on.

[sailor]

So is it a cavalcade or a calvacade?

[Sigmagirl]

@Tapioca_Dextrin

I know who Chaise Guava is, but who the heck is Chaise Lounge?

Chaise longue, really. Chaise lounge is a secondary usage.

[Jake]

@Polycarp

There is quite a difference between the Calgary Stampede and a cavalry stampede. During the 1917 Allenby campaign of WWI, cavalry from Calgary charged up Calvary. (They were not accompanied by troops from Voilà Voilà, Washington.)

Sir, I salute you!

[jayjay]

@Polycarp

There is quite a difference between the Calgary Stampede and a cavalry stampede. During the 1917 Allenby campaign of WWI, cavalry from Calgary charged up Calvary. (They were not accompanied by troops from Voilà Voilà, Washington.)

You’ve been saving that one up since before you lost your internet connection, haven’t you?

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Sigmagirl

Chaise longue, really. Chaise lounge is a secondary usage.

whoosh

And it’s not a secondary usage, it’s a corruption.

[panache45]

@sailor

Viola!

Cello!

[astorian]

@UDS

Cavalry, blokes on horses, is ultimately from the Latin caballus, a horse. Calvary, name of the place of the crucifixion, is from the Latin calvaria, a skull, because the Aramaicc name of the place, usually anglicised today as Golgotha, means “place of the skull”.

See, if only people still had a proper classical education, these confusions wouldn’t arise.

The etymology is a bit more interesting than that.

The Latin word for horse was “equus.” But the modern Spanish word for horse (caballo) and the modern French word for horse (cheval) come from a Latin slang word, caballus. Caballus meant, basically, a flea-bitten old nag!

Why? Who knows- one speculation is that, in the hinterlands of the Roman empire, one was more likely to see a broken down old plug pulling a wagon than a prime warhorse.

[Captain_Amazing]

@astorian

Why? Who knows- one speculation is that, in the hinterlands of the Roman empire, one was more likely to see a broken down old plug pulling a wagon than a prime warhorse.

Well, the Italian for horse is cavallo, so maybe in the heartland of the Roman empire, one was also more likely to see a broken down old plug…

[Loach]

I spent two years in the 1st Cal Division.

[Chronos]

I think I’ve read that the usage of “caballo” or its cognates as the primary term originated in Spain, and spread thence to the rest of the Empire (including Italia).

And one easy way to remember the difference is the Cleveland basketball team. They’re the “Cavs”, short for “Cavaliers”, not the “Calvs” (“Cavalier”, of course, being the term for a warrior mounted on horseback).

[Sigmagirl]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

whoosh

And it’s not a secondary usage, it’s a corruption.

I was being polite.

[Spavined_Gelding]

In his reminiscences a veteran of Waterloo (184 years ago, yesterday) says that the man next to him in one of the infantry squares cried out “Here comes the calvary,” every time the masses of French dragoons, hussars, carabineers, cuirassiers and horse chasseurs came pounding up the ridge. While the guy was amusing it was sort of a relief when he was finally wounded and shut up.

So the mispronunciation is hardly a modern fault.

[sailor]

@Spavined_Gelding

In his reminiscences a veteran of Waterloo (184 years ago, yesterday) says that the man next to him in one of the infantry squares cried out “Here comes the calvary,” every time the masses of French dragoons, hussars, carabineers, cuirassiers and horse chasseurs came pounding up the ridge. While the guy was amusing it was sort of a relief when he was finally wounded and shut up.

So the mispronunciation is hardly a modern fault.

So ignorance is a “traditional” thing. That’s good to know. When someone corrects my ignorance I can always say I am just being traditional.

[Brasil]

@UDS

Cavalry, blokes on horses, is ultimately from the Latin caballus, a horse. Calvary, name of the place of the crucifixion, is from the Latin calvaria, a skull, because the Aramaicc name of the place, usually anglicised today as Golgotha, means “place of the skull”.

See, if only people still had a proper classical education, these confusions wouldn’t arise.

Actually the Latin word for horse is equus. Caballus is from vulgar latin and is derived from cavalry, not the other way.
Cavalry comes from the sanscrit aqva, meaning platform. The original cavalry consisted in soldiers in platforms in the back of elephants.

[Stathol]

Huh.

Apparently the English word “chivalry” derives from the French word for cavalry (chevalerie). I did not know that.

So when you say that a mounted knight is chivalrous …

[Nametag]

@Brasil

Actually the Latin word for horse is equus. Caballus is from vulgar latin and is derived from cavalry, not the other way.
Cavalry comes from the sanscrit aqva, meaning platform. The original cavalry consisted in soldiers in platforms in the back of elephants.

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.