The story
- Old English · inherited fromhorselene
- Middle English · inherited fromhorshelne
- English todayhorseheal
From Middle English horshelne, from Old English horselene, a compound of hors (“horse”) and elene (“elecampane”). The compound was later reinterpreted as being formed of horse + heal, as it was supposed to cure diseases of horses.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.