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Jennet, a small Spanish horse; the word is sometimes applied in English to a mule, the offspring of a she-ass and a stallion.
Jennet comes, through Fr. genet, from Span. jinete, a light horseman who rides a la gineta, explained as with his legs tucked up. The name is taken to be a corruption of the Arabic Zenta, a Berber tribe famed for its cavalry. English and French transferred the word from the rider to his horse, a meaning which the word has only acquired in Spain in modern times.
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
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