gallowa

See also: Gallowa

English

Illustration of a Galloway Pony from 1842

Alternative forms

• galloway (variant spelling, dialectal)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Scottish Gaelic Gall-Ghàidhealaibhbor.

English Gallowaybor.

Scots Gallowa

Scots gallowabor.

▲

English Galloway

English galloway

English gallowa

From Middle English Galloway, originally denoting a small horse or pony bred in Galloway, a region of southwest Scotland. The term spread into northern English and Geordie dialects, where it was shortened to gallowa.

Pronunciation

• (UK, Geordie, Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈɡaləwə/
• Hyphenation: gal‧lo‧wa

Noun

gallowa (plural gallowas)

1. (Geordie, Northern England) pony, or a small horse.

   Synonyms: cuddy, horse, nag, pony

   • 1981, Raphael Samuel, People's History and Socialist Theory, →ISBN, page 65:

     Young lads who've never seen a gallowa (pony)...

   • 2005, Bill Griffiths, A dictionary of north east dialect, →ISBN, page 65:

     ..."galloways, a small, but spirited, breed of horses, from Galloway, a district of country in Scotland, famed for rearing them" Brockett Newc & Nth 1829; "A pony became a 'gallowa"...

Hypernyms

• equine
• horse

See also

• pony
• gallowa
• nag (dialectal)
• cuddy (Northern English, Scots, “donkey”)

References

• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin, “gallowa”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.

• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[2]

Scots

Galloway Cattle

Alternative forms

• gallawa (dialectal, variant spelling)
• Gallowa (dialectal, variant spelling)
• Galloway (dialectal, variant spelling)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Scottish Gaelic Gall-Ghàidhealaibhbor.

English Gallowaybor.

Scots Gallowa

Scots gallowa

Borrowed from English Galloway, originally referring to the district in southwest Scotland where such small horses and cattle were bred. Shortened in Scots speech to gallowa.

Pronunciation

• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɡaləwə/
• Hyphenation: gal‧lo‧wa

Noun

gallowa (plural gallowas)

1. Pony or a small wiry horse bred in Galloway.

   Synonyms: cuddie, garron, Gallowa, galloway, horce, hors, powny

   • 2020, Anastasija Ropa, Timothy Dawson, The Horse in Premodern European Culture, →ISBN, page 238:

     … to be the closest living relatives of the now extinct Galloway, still use the term either in conjunction (Dales Galloway, Fell Galloway) or as a stand-alone (including the forms Gallowa and …

2. A stocky, hornless breed of black cattle.

   Synonyms: beast, cou, Gallowa, Galloway, nowt

   • 2023, Ian Mitchell, Mountain Footfalls, →ISBN, page 238:

     …But a little diversion was provided once back at the car when we saw a herd of Gallowa 'belties'…

Hypernyms

• horse
• cou
• kintra

Derived terms

• gallowa

See also

• pony
• cattle

References

• “gallowa”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.