The definitions you've quoted pretty much have it right. Remember that in the Middle Ages, being in charge of the horses was a very important position. The second-in-command of Roman armies was the magister equitum, literally "Master of Horse". The constable was a position similar to the marshal, and that word has a similar history: it comes from "comes stabuli", "count of the stable". Even later in history, when cavalry had lost much of its military importance, the Master of the Horse was a high court position. The resemblance between "marshal" and "martial" is coincidental; see this explanation. (In French, which gets "maréchal" from the same root, a "maréchal" is a military commander, but a "maréchal-ferrant" is a farrier, going back to the older meaning of the word.) Choess ( talk) 03:20, 3 December 2008 (UTC)
The definitions you've quoted pretty much have it right. Remember that in the Middle Ages, being in charge of the horses was a very important position. The second-in-command of Roman armies was the magister equitum, literally "Master of Horse". The constable was a position similar to the marshal, and that word has a similar history: it comes from "comes stabuli", "count of the stable". Even later in history, when cavalry had lost much of its military importance, the Master of the Horse was a high court position. The resemblance between "marshal" and "martial" is coincidental; see this explanation. (In French, which gets "maréchal" from the same root, a "maréchal" is a military commander, but a "maréchal-ferrant" is a farrier, going back to the older meaning of the word.) Choess ( talk) 03:20, 3 December 2008 (UTC)