cavalo (Portuguese)
Where does "cavalo" come from?
The Portuguese word 'cavalo' descends from the Latin 'caballus', originally used to describe a pack horse or a common riding nag. This term transitioned through Old Galician-Portuguese and is believed to have Celtic roots that share widespread linguistic ties with ancient terms for horses in Greek, Slavic, and Persian. Today, it serves as the foundation for horse-related terms in several Romance languages, including Spanish, French, and Italian.
Full etymology tree
- cavalo (Portuguese), 'horse (Equus ferus caballus)'
- inherited cavalo (Old Galician-Portuguese), 'horse'
- inherited caballus (Latin), 'pack-horse, jade, hack'
- borrowed *kaballos (Gaulish)
- inherited *kaballos (Proto-Celtic)
- borrowed καβάλλης (kabállēs) (Ancient Greek), 'nag, old and useless horse'
- borrowed *kabah (Proto-Iranian)
- inherited *kebʰ- (Proto-Indo-European)
- borrowed *kabah (Proto-Iranian)
- borrowed *kaballos (Gaulish)
- inherited caballus (Latin), 'pack-horse, jade, hack'
- inherited cavalo (Old Galician-Portuguese), 'horse'
Ancestors
- cavalo (Old Galician-Portuguese)
- caballus (Latin)
- *kappilos (Proto-Celtic)
Cognates and doublets
- καβάλλης (Ancient Greek)
- cavall (Catalan)
- cheval (French)
- cabalo (Galician)
- cavallo (Italian)
- caval (Occitan)
- کول (Persian)
- cal (Romanian)
- caballo (Spanish)
Descendants and derived words
- ꦏꦥꦭ꧀ (Javanese)
- ꦏꦥꦭ꧀ (Javanese)
- ꦏꦥꦭ꧀ (Javanese)
- kãvãru (Kaingang)
- kabaru (Old Tupi)
- kabai (Papiamentu)
- a cavalo dado não se olham os dentes (Portuguese)
- anticavalo (Portuguese)
- bife a cavalo (Portuguese)
- cavala (Portuguese)
- cavala (Portuguese)
- cavalaria (Portuguese)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris