Etymologically
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stallion

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈstæljən/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English stalion, an alteration, recorded as stalyone in 1440, of earlier staloun or stalun,[2][3][4] borrowed from Anglo-Norman estaloun,[4][3][5][6] a variant of Old French estalon (“stallion”) (modern étalon).[7][4][8] Hoad notes that the origin of the later ending is unknown,[8] and the OED explains some Middle English forms as a confusion of the ending with the participial suffix -ant.[7] The French word comes from Vulgar Latin *stallō, a horse kept in a stall,[9][7] formed from Frankish *stal,[4][2][9] which is cognate with Old High German stal (“stable”) and with stall.[2][4][10] The Germanic noun is Proto-Germanic *stallaz (“standing, stand, stall, stable”),[11][12] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to put, stand, put in order”).[4][3] Italian stallone corresponds to it.[7][4] Johnson had wondered whether the word came from Welsh or Old English.[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Barnhart finds staloun and stalun before 1300, and earlier the place name Stalunesbusc (1218).[2] The OED's first record, about 1305 in The Land of Cokaygne, uses it figuratively of a man as a begetter.[7]

Semantic evolution

The name probably comes from the stable: a stallion was a horse kept in a stall to serve mares, rather than for work or war.[4][2][8][14] The ordinary sense, an uncastrated male horse, is recorded in Gower in 1390.[7][6] From the 16th century the word was also used of men: of a lascivious man from 1553,[7][15][4] and in the 17th and 18th centuries of a woman's hired lover; for a while it could even mean a courtesan (about 1578 to 1670).[7][16] It was applied to male dogs and sheep kept for breeding from 1802.[7][16] Among African Americans in the 1970s a stallion was a tall, good-looking woman.[7]

Timeline

  • 1218 – in the place name Stalunesbusc.[2]
  • before 1300 – staloun, stalun.[2][4]
  • c. 1305 – a begetter, of a man (obsolete by 1621).[7]
  • 1390 – an uncastrated male horse, in Gower's Confessio Amantis.[7][6]
  • 1440 – the form stalyone, in the Promptorium Parvulorum.[2]
  • 1553 – a lascivious man; later a woman's hired lover.[7][15]
  • c. 1578 – a courtesan (obsolete by 1670).[7]
  • 1802 – a male dog or sheep kept for breeding.[7]
  • 1970 – a tall, good-looking woman, in African American slang.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An uncastrated adult male horse, especially one kept for breeding: The farm kept two stallions and a dozen mares.[10][16][7]
  2. A mature male of another animal of the horse family: a zebra stallion.[16]
  3. The male of certain other animals, such as dogs or sheep, kept for breeding.[16][7]
  4. (slang) A strongly sexual or promiscuous man; a womanizer.[15][7][16]
  5. (obsolete) A woman's paid lover, or a courtesan.[16][7]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  11. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  12. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  14. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  15. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster