From the horse's mouth

From Trojan horses to currying favour, everyday expressions are laced with references to the part horses played throughout our culture and history. Author Adam Jacot de Boinod traces the origins of some popular idioms

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DARK horse”, “stalking horse” and “horseplay”… the English language is rich with equestrian idioms. Animals, of course, have long been a deep well of examples from which we draw to make helpful comparisons and precise references. They perform many roles in our lives and perhaps none more so than the horse.

The horse is involved in everything from historic warfare to man’s “cavalier” status and medieval jousting, from agriculture to transport, not to mention the world of racing, so it comes as no surprise just how richly the horse has been put to linguistic use.

What’s so interesting, and sometimes truly eyebrow-raising, is the origin and true definition of these phrases and idioms.

It’s hard to go any earlier within the canon of European literature than Greek mythology, where the “Trojan horse” refers to an episode in which the Trojans dragged an abandoned wooden horse within their city gates. It was secretly full of Greek soldiers who at night then stole out of concealment, slew the guards and opened the gates to set fire to the city of Troy.

Indeed for centuries wars and battles were dependent on horses for their success. We have the expression “old war horse”, and horses naturally became something of a status symbol: a bit like a sports car today.

The phrase “my kingdom for a horse” is used typically to emphasise how important a usually insignificant item is at a given moment. It was coined by Shakespeare in Richard III and refers both to a king who might lose his kingdom from losing his horse and to the fact that something small outweighs a kingdom at that moment.