> constable - 1. "The chief officer of the household, court, administration, or > military forces of a ruler." > > No mention of horses, stables etc. except that constable originally comes from > the Latin "comes stabuli" count or officer of the stable, but the meaning had > changed to the one given above before the word was adopted into English from > the French. > Liz "Officer of the stable" sounds a pretty menial job at first hearing, but I suppose it would have been the cultural equivalent of Minister of Transport for a regional ruler. Is that likely? Gordon Barlow