Geldyng

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A male horse or other animal that has been castrated, especially one used for riding or work
2. An animal, most often a horse, whose testicles have been removed so that it cannot breed
3. A neutered male beast, typically a horse, that has had its reproductive organs surgically removed

Etymology: "Geldyng" is a medieval spelling of "gelding," a castrated animal, most often a horse. The word's deeper meaning is older than its application to horses. It comes from the Old Norse adjective "geldr," meaning "barren" or "unable to bear young," which is also the source of the verb "geld," to castrate. The Old Norse root shows that the sense was first about sterility, and only later narrowed to the animal that had been rendered sterile. The same root gives English "geld," still used for removing an animal's reproductive organs, so the family of words stays tied to that original idea of barrenness. Spellings such as "geldyng" show the word in its older written forms before modern English settled on "gelding."