Naig

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small, cheap or inferior horse, often used for riding or light work in Scots dialect
2. Another word for a horse, particularly a small or poor-quality one, used in Scottish speech
3. An old or humble horse, the sort kept for everyday riding, as recorded in Scots usage

Etymology: "Naig" is an archaic form of "naik", a word that reached English from Sanskrit "nāyaka", meaning "leader" or "governor". In Indian usage the title came to denote a local chief or headman, and it was adopted into English in that sense, often in colonial-era writing about South Asia. The word's journey runs through the Indian subcontinent's administrative vocabulary rather than through the Latin and French channels that supply most English terms of rule. Its older spelling "naig" survives mainly in historical texts, where it appears as an alternative to the modern "naik" for the same official or chief.

Synonyms: nag, pony