Zool. [According to Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiatica, 1831, called Tarpàn by the Kirghiz Tatars. (So F. tarpan, Littré, 1874.)] The wild horse of Tartary: see quots.
1841. C. Hamilton Smith, Nat. Hist. Horses, 160. The Tahtar or even the Cossack nations … assert that they can distinguish a feral breed from the wild by many tokens; and … denominate the real wild horse Tarpan and Tarpani. Ibid., 163. Real Tarpans are not larger than ordinary mules, their colour invariably tan, Isabella, or mouse. Ibid., 164. There is always a certain number of expelled Tarpan stallions among them [feral herds].
1905. W. Ridgeway, Origin of Thoroughbred Horse, 34. It would appear that Prejvalsky’s horse is nothing more than the Tarpan of the older writers.
1910. Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, Lett. to Editor. I think it is clear that the name Tarpan belongs to a genuine wild horse, a true species, but that it has been subsequently applied to the progeny of escaped domestic horses.
