palfreyn.

Etymology: < Anglo-Norman palefrai, palefrie, palfrai, palfré, palfrei, Anglo-Norman and Old French palefrei, Anglo-Norman and Old French, Middle French palefroi, Middle French palefroy (French palefroi ) horse for travelling (c1100 in Old French), horse for a lady (c1180 in Old French) < post-classical Latin palafredus , palafridus , palefredus , palefridus , palfredus horse for travelling, post-horse (frequently from late 11th cent. in British and continental sources), alteration (with dissimilation of liquid consonants) of parafredus , paravredus , parefredus , parefridus (8th cent.), shortened (frequently with devoicing of v , perhaps after classical Latin frēnum : compare note s.v. palfrenier n.) < paraveredus (4th cent.) < classical Latin para- beside, extra (see para- prefix¹) + classical Latin verēdus light horse, fast horse, in post-classical Latin also post-horse, horse for travelling (4th cent.; < a Gaulish word cognate with Welsh gorwydd steed < the Indo-European base of hypo- prefix + the Indo-European base of ride v.), probably after Byzantine Greek πάριππος post-horse (see note below). Compare Old Occitan palafre , palafrei (first half of the 12th cent.), Spanish †palafré (1207), Catalan palafrè (1249), and also the Romance forms cited s.v. palfrenier n.Post-classical Latin paraveredus may have arisen in the northern Balkans, where Greek and Latin came into contact. Compare Byzantine Greek βέρεδος post-horse, βερεδάριος groom (both 6th cent.) < post-classical Latin veredus , veredarius (compare palfrenier n.). The post-classical Latin word was also borrowed into the continental West Germanic languages, in which it became the usual word for ‘horse’, compare Middle Dutch pērt (Dutch paard), Old Saxon palafrith, (in compounds) pereth, perth (Middle Low German pērt, German regional (Low German) Peerd, Perd), Old High German pfarifrit, palafrid (Middle High German pferfrit, pferit, phert, German Pferd). Apparently attested earlier as a surname: Thomas Palefrei (1212), although it is unclear whether this is to be interpreted as reflecting the Middle English or the Anglo-Norman word. N.E.D. (1904) gives the pronunciation as (pǭ·lfri, pæ·l-) /ˈpɔːlfrɪ/ /ˈpæl-/.