Learn English – Why are dogs “neutered”, horses “gelded”, and people “castrated”

etymologymeaning

Why is there a different word to explain the removal of testes for these three animals?

Also, can I use all three for any animal?

Best Answer

Castrate is a general term that can be applied both to human beings and animals. Geld and neuter are respectively used for horses and pets probably because they were originally mainly used to refer to those animals: See etymology below:

Castrate: (v.)

  • 1610s (implied in castrated), back-formation from castration (q.v.), or from Latin castratus, past participle of castrare.

Geld (v.):

  • "to castrate," c. 1300, from Old Norse gelda "to castrate," said in Watkins to be from Proto-Germanic *galdjan "to castrate," from PIE *ghel- (3) "to cut." Related to other words which, if the derivation is correct, indicate a general sense of "barren." Compare Old Norse geld-fe "barren sheep" and geldr (adj.) "barren, yielding no milk, dry,"which yielded Middle English geld "barren" (of women and female animals); also Old High German galt "barren," said of a cow.
  • Gelding (n.): late 14c., "castrated animal" (especially a horse), also "a eunuch" (late 13c. as a surname), from Old Norse geldingr "wether; eunuch," from gelda "castrate"

Neuter (v.):

  • 1903, from neuter (adj.). Originally in reference to pet cats,
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