shetland
n. countablen. a small, strong horse with thick hair that comes from islands in Scotland. You often see them in parks or on farms because they are very friendly and good for children to ride.
n. a breed of small, sturdy pony originating in the Shetland Isles, characterized by a heavy coat and short legs. Often used as a modifier to describe wool or knitwear produced in the same region.
The children took turns riding the small Shetland at the fair.
She wore a thick Shetland sweater to stay warm during the coastal hike.
While originally bred for hauling peat and plowing land in harsh northern climates, the Shetland is now globally recognized as an ideal mount for young equestrian students.
From Scots Shetland, Middle Scots Ȝetland, from Old Norse Hjaltland, by surface analysis, hjalt (“hilt”) + land (“land”). Andrew Jennings suggests the name derives from the tribal name Calēdonēs (as in Caledonia), considering the geographer Ptolemy already called the sea north of Scotland ὠκεανός Δουηκαλεδονίος (ōkeanós Douēkaledoníos); if this is correct, the borrowing into Germanic would need to have occurred at such an early date that it took part in the Germanic sound-shift, changing kalid- to halit-, after which it underwent folk etymological reshaping to Old Norse hjalt (“hilt”).
Often used attributively to describe textiles or livestock (e.g., 'Shetland wool', 'Shetland pony').