Note 495 — Chapter VIII · SCOURING THE WHITE HORSE

Keffil meaning horse is still used in Worcestershire, and Herefordshire. “This is a pure Welsh word nor need one feel much surprised at finding it in use in counties where the Saxon and the Brython must have had many dealings in horse flesh. But what is significant is the manner in which it is used, for it is employed only for horses of the poorest type, or as a word of abuse from one person to another as when one says—‘you great keffil,’ meaning you clumsy idiot.”—Windle, B. C. A., Life in Early Britain, p. 209.