Equites Stablesiani

[D B Campbell]

According to Hoffmann it's a hybrid (stablesianoi): from Latin stabulum it might have been rendered to Greek stablos, with the suffix -ianus. (Hoffmann p.251).

Hoffmann may be onto something, but perhaps hasn't explained it clearly.

stablizô is the (late) Greek verb for "stabling a horse", hence the stablisianos is the "groom" responsible for that action. (See Sophocles' handy Lexicon, p. 1005.) It's a small step from stablisianoi to stablêsianoi (Greek) and Stablesiani (Latin).

I still like Dessau's comment (ad ILS 2793), that nominis origo adhuc latet ("So far, the origin of the word lies hidden"). :wink:

Hoffmann also mentioned a Tribunus or Comes stabuli...

Already mentioned previously (with Amm. Marc. ref.)