Brasil
June 20, 2009, 9:47pm
41
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:
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I can translate it for you, but you must trust my translation to be accurate.
Zoe
June 20, 2009, 10:02pm
42
Soldiers in platforms? Open-toed?
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.
sailor
June 20, 2009, 11:06pm
44
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.
No – although I was aware of the rather silly fact.