stable [ME] The French word estable, from which we get stable, could refer to a shelter for pigs as well as one for horses, and in English a stable originally housed any domestic animal. Stable [ME] meaning ‘firmly fixed’ is a quite different word, that goes back to Latin stare ‘to stand’, source also of establish [LME] and establishment [LME]. The saying shut (or lock) the stable door after the horse has bolted dates back to medieval times, though until the late 19th century it specifically referred to horse-stealing and was used in the form shut the stable door after the steed is stolen. See also constable.