An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Pferd

by Friedrich Kluge

Pferd, n., ‘horse,’ from MidHG. pfërt (-des), n., ‘horse,’ espec. ‘riding-horse, lady’s horse’ (in contrast to Roß, ‘war-horse’), with the earlier variants pfërit for *pfërirît, OHG. (from the 10th cent.) pferfrī̆t, pfarifrī̆d; corresponding to LG. pęrid, Du. paard. The word seems to be Franc. and Sax. (in the UpG. dials. the old terms Roß and Gaul are still the prevalent terms; it was probably borrowed (about the 8th cent.?) from the early MidLat. paraverêdus, parifredus (f for v as in Käfig; the change of v into f in this case, however, is common to Teut.). Parverêdus, ‘horse,’ lit. ‘near horse,’ is derived from Gr. παρά and MidLat. verêdus, ‘horse’ (allied to Kelt. rêda, ‘waggon’). In the Kelt. group, W. gorwydd, ‘steed,’ was retained. The Rom. languages retain the MidLat. word (in the MidLat. collateral form palafrêdus, palafrênus) in the sense of ‘palfrey’; comp. Fr. palefroi (E. palfrey), Lat. palafreno.