Arabian peninsula preferred mares on their raids, because stallions would nicker to the opposing camps' horses, whereas mares would be quiet. However, other cultures preferred male horses over mares either due to a desire for more aggressive behavior in a fighting animal, or to not be inconvenienced with a loss of work ability due to a mare's pregnancy, parturition and lactation. Etymology The word mare, meaning "female horse", took several forms before A.D. 900. In Old English the form was mīere, mere or mȳre, the feminine forms for mearh (horse). The Old German form of the word was Mähre. Similarly, in Irish and Gaelic, the word was marc, in Welsh, march, in Cornish "margh", and in Breton marc'h. The word is "said to be of Gaulish origin." It is said by some writers to derive from Proto-Germanic *marhijō ("female horse"), from Proto-Germanic marhaz ("horse"), from Proto-Indo-European *markos ("horse"). The word has no known cognates beyond Germanic and Celtic. However, an interesting hypothesis links these Indo-European words to Mongolian морь (mori, horse). In addition, the Wiktionary entry for морь includes a comparison to possibly related words for horse in Korean, Manchu, Chinese (馬/马 mǎ), Japanese (うま uma), and others. One possible derived term is a mare's nest, an expression for "excitement over something which does not exist". The term nightmare, is not directly connected etymologically with the word for female horse, but rather to homophones that meant "incubus" or "goblin". See also Horse breeding Stallion Gelding Filly Foal Colt (horse) References Types of horse Horse breeding and studs Female horses pt:Égua