zodiac constellation, c.1391, from L.
taurus "bull," from PIE
*tauro- "bull" (cf. Gk.
tauros, L.
taurus "bull, bullock, steer;" O.C.S.
turu "bull, steer;" Lith.
tauras "aurochs;" O.Pruss.
tauris "bison"), often said to be from PIE
*steu-ro- "be big, be strong, be sturdy" (cf. Skt.
sthura- "thick, compact," Avestan
staora- "big cattle," M.Pers.
stor "horse, draft animal," Goth.
stiur "young bull," O.E.
steor, see
steer (n.)). Klein proposes a Sem. origin (cf. Aramaic
tora "ox, bull, steer," Heb.
shor, Arabic
thor, Ethiopian
sor). Meaning "person born under the sign of the bull" is recorded from 1901. Hence also
tauromachy "bull-fighting," from Gk.
tauromakhia (see
-machy).
"What form great Jove would next devise,
And when his godship would again Taurise?"
[William Somerville, 1727]
[tawr-uh
s] 