Re: caballus, couple

> I saw in Ernout-Meillet's Latin Etymological Dictionary that the
> first attestation of the Late Latin and common
> Romance 'caballus' "horse" (instead of inherited 'equus') was found
> in an inscription in a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast; its
> appearance in time in Latin fits with the Mithridatic wars. Loans
> (according to E & M) of that term appear in Celtic, Slavic
> ('kopyla') and Germanic (German 'Kop').

As I understand it, caballus is a loan in Latin from Celtic, not the
other way around - coming ultimately from PIE *ka:pho-/*ko:pho- "hoof"
(via a suffixed form *ka:ph-l-o-/*ko:ph-l-o-, with the not-uncommon
Celtic voicing of -p- to -b- before a liquid).

- Chris Gwinn