[Ads-l] Horse creature

[Laurence Horn]

If you like tuna fish, horse beast is clearly the next step.

LH

On Nov 6, 2014, at 8:49 AM, Michael Quinion wrote:

> An intriguing question has arrived at World Wide Words from a genealogist 
> who has found examples of the term "horse creature" in old American court 
> records and newspapers. She asked why the redundancy?
> 
> I've found numerous examples of the term, often in sale announcements, and 
> also of "horse beast", which was used in the US and also in the UK (the 
> first example in the OED is dated 1573). DARE has "horse beast" and also 
> "horse critter" but not "horse creature". There are 16th-century British 
> references to "rother beast", where a rother was an ox or bullock, but no 
> other farm animal seems to have one of these words added to its name.
> 
> Can anyone suggest to my reader why a farmer or auctioneer might refer 
> specifically to a "horse creature" or "horse beast"? I'm at a total loss!
> 
> --
> Michael Quinion
> World Wide Words
> Web: http://www.worldwidewords.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org