World Wide Words: Shank's mare. I can rest now, I learned something new today.
It’s Scottish, dating from the eighteenth century. There was a verb, to shank or to shank it, meaning to go on foot. This is from standard English shank for the part of the leg from the knee to the ankle, which comes from Old English sceanca, the leg bone. This verb developed into shank’s naig or shank’s naigie (where the second words are local forms of nag, a horse) and later into shank’s mare. It was a wry joke: I haven’t got a horse of my own for the journey, so I’ll use Shank’s mare to get there, meaning I’ll go on my own two feet. This supposed link with a person called Shank explains why the first word is often capitalised.
Another form, now more common in Britain, is shank’s pony.
Sorry to come in a second time, but I’m of Scots ancestry and never knew what I posted before this one. What a wonderful thing the interwebbyything is.
Cool. Great explanation provided there...