White. — The Horse : a Study in Philology. 219 1 



popular; but, although he is kind, his firmness and strict 

 adherence to discipline and perfect working are recognised 

 and respected." The Royal Mews now means a range of 

 stabling, because the Royal stables were rebuilt (a.d. 1534) in 

 a place where the Royal falcons had been kept. The name is 

 derived from mid-English metve, mue, a cage where hawks 

 were kept. 



A second newspaper cutting, also having reference to the 

 preparations previous to the coronation, is here given in part : 

 " In the death of the Earl of Arundel, only son of the Duke 

 of Norfolk, and heir to the premier dukedom and office of 

 Hereditary Earl Marshal of England, a feeble flame of life 

 flickered out at Arundel Castle on Tuesday, the 8th July, 

 1902. . . . His final illness began on what was to have 

 been Coronation Day [postponed owing to the King's illness], 

 and the Duke of Norfolk, one of the best and most devoted 

 fathers, was summoned from the turmoil of the Earl Mar- 

 shal's office to his bedside by telegram." In German this 

 title is Ober-hof-marschall, Chief Marshal of the Household ; 

 Skeat says " marshal " means master of the horse, and 

 literally horse-servant, but the word is mostly used now to 

 denote a civil officer who directs processions, and no doubt 

 the duty of the Earl Marshal of England would be to ar- 

 range the order of the coronation procession. It would seem 

 that the term " Master of the Household " will not necessarily 

 refer to domestic arrangements, for we speak of " Household 

 Troops," and the German word hof, after the manner of our 

 word " court," originally designated an euclosed farm-yard, 

 so dating back to the time when it was necessary to enclose 

 their house and domestic animals in a court-yard (German, 

 hof-raum), and in course of time, as man progressed in civili- 

 sation, or shall we call it " luxury," hof, a farm-house, came 

 to mean " the Royal Court," not an enclosure, but the Royal 

 retinue ; also our English " Court," a judicial assembly. An 

 allied word is court- ege, a train, a retinue ; courtier and curtsey 

 (the same as " courtesy "), a courtly act. 



The word "marshal" is a remarkable relic of the male 

 form of our w 7 ord " mare," the feminine of horse, and Skeat 

 gives it as literally " horse-servant," a groom, which has risen 

 to be a title of honour, from old French mare-schal (French, 

 marechal), a marshal, a farrier, through old high German 

 mara-scalk (marah, a horse; scalk, a servant). Stute would 

 seem the more usual word for mare : Stut = English "stud," 

 as in " stud mare." We also find in German mare and mahre, 

 a mare, a nag, a jade; mar-stall, the Royal stables; mar-stall- 

 herr, a master of horse ; miihr-es, mahr-en, the nightmare ; 

 miihr, mahre, tidings, report ; mahr-chen, legend ; mahr-chen- 

 haft, fabulous (note English " mare's nest "). 



