What is the origin of 'sleep tight'?
Read moreOne of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
Of an animal, especially a horse: marked with rounded spots; dappled.
Late Middle English. From Anglo-Norman pomelé, pumelé, pomelei and Middle French pommelé marked with round spots, dappled from pome, pomme + -el + -é, perhaps after an unattested Frankish cognate of Old Saxon appulgrê, lit. ‘apple-grey’. Compare Old French (rare) pumiele, French † pommelle little apple.