THE HORSE AND ITS 

 RELATIVES 



CHAPTER I 



THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION AND STRUCTURE 



OF THE HORSE 



The difficulty which occurs in the case of the 

 ox-^ as to what is the proper English designation 

 of that animal does not arise in the present instance, 

 for although we not infrequently speak of a horse, 

 as distinct from a mare, there seems little doubt 

 that the former term is really a species-name, and 

 therefore applicable to both sexes of Equus cabalhis, 

 as the domesticated horse of Europe was called 

 by Linnaeus. 



As to the origin of the name horse — the equiva- 

 lent of the Anglo-Saxon hors, the Frisian hars 

 or hors, the German ross^ the Italian 7'ozza, the 

 Old Saxon and Old German hros, and probably 

 the Persian gkoi'- and the Hindustani ghora — there 

 has been some difference of opinion. It has been 

 stated, for instance, to take origin from the Sanskrit 



^ See The Ox and its Kindred, by R. Lydekker, London, 1912. 



A 



