expressions employed by the Greeks and Romans, were Celtic.[1]
All the Gaulish medals bear the figure of a horse, often accompanied by that of a boar. The sacrifice of a white horse was the greatest oblation that could be offered to the gods of these people; and the many statuettes of horses found in various places would tend to prove that a mysterious importance was attached to this noble creature. The Gauls, as before noticed, buried their chiefs and warriors with their weapons, their dogs, and their warhorses, for on their steeds they were to ride when they entered the abode of everlasting felicity.
The numerous cairns, or Celtic tombs, which abound in Brittany and Franche-Comte, show that this custom widely prevailed. 'The Gauls,' Cæsar writes, 'were so fond of their horses, and valued them so highly, that the German allies could not procure them for their service.'[2]
- ↑ Megnin. Op. cit. p. 14. As illustrative of this fact, we may give the following examples. Names of countries: Denmark; of people: Marsi, Marcomanni; names of places: Penmark, Markhausen, Kœnigsmark, Mark of Brandenburg, Marca, Marca Trevisana, Kurmark, Mittlemark, Neumark, Altmark, Vormark, Ukermark, and Stiermark. Marches, or frontiers, such as the Welsh and Scotch marches, the Marche de Limousin in France, and Marchfield in Austria; the places where the standards of the northern people were arrested, and represented by a horse. The term also signifies a market for horses, and the German jahr-marckt, or annual fair, always denoted one where horses were sold. Individuals: French Marquis, German Markgraf. Cavalry terms: Polemark, commander of a body of troops; maréchal (qui equorum gerit curam, qui proest stabulo); merchant, marchand, horsedealer. For the Celtic etymology of terms used by the hippiatrists, see Recueil de Médecine Velerinaire, 1858.
- ↑ Megnin. At the great battle before Alesia, the Roman cavalry was composed exclusively of German allies.—Cæsar, Commentaries.
