5938 



Etymology of the word Mare. 



singular that where the Norman and Saxon words were so much alike 

 they did not amalgamate into one common sound ; but to this day, in 

 Yorkshire and the northern counties, where the Saxon and Danish 

 pronunciation of words is still predominant with the lower orders, the 

 female horse is, amongst the latter, always spoken of as "the meer;" 

 whilst the upper classes pronounce it " the mare," just as our Saxon 

 and Norman ancestors respectively did in their day. The Saxon 

 word fole (now foal) seems to have kept its ground as a general term 

 for the offspring of horses which (after colt had become confined to 

 the male) were called, as males, colts or colt-foals, and, as females, 

 fillies or filly-foals. 



When we see how naturally the word mare comes from the Norman 

 mere and Saxon moere, whence all our other words relative to horses 

 are derived, I think we have no occasion' to resort to the far-fetched 

 word march, Celtic for a stallion (or war-horse if you will), for a deri- 

 vation. 



A dray-horse, no doubt, through a number of changes, has its ulti- 

 mate root in the words to dratv ; but its proximate derivation is from 

 the horse's employment in propelling the carriage, used by brewers, 

 called " a dray : " that word, no doubt, is based on the words 

 to draw. 



These remarks, perhaps, are scarcely fit for the ^ Zoologist but I 

 have been led into them by having pen, ink and paper before me 

 whilst reading page 5359 of that excellent periodical ; so, being writ- 

 ten, I send them. 



Thomas Thompson. 



Hull, January 8, 1858. 



[I may reinark that, without the slightest pretension to etymological research, I 

 had always considered the French "w?eVe" and English "mare" strictly synonymous 

 as applied to the female horse ; thus, in France, we continually hear the term Qnere et 

 poulain, " mare and foal," although our dictionaries give no such expression. I be- 

 lieve we shall be quite safe in accepting the Etiglish word "mother" as the meaning 

 common to the two. Still the origin of the two words meaning " mother" may be an 

 open question, and I quite incline to agree with Mr. Thompson in discarding the 

 word 7narchy or stallion, as that origin. — Edivard Newman.'] 



