Horsa, according to tradition, was a
fifth century warrior and brother of
Hengest who took part in the invasion and conquest of
Britain from its native
Romano-British and
Celtic inhabitants. He is said to have died in battle in Kent, and a monument was raised in his memory.
Twins of warriors is a common theme in folklore, and because our earliest witness to Horsa's existence, Bede, mentions a stone existed that recorded his name, recent scholars have speculated that his name came from an Roman inscription which was illegible except for part of the latin word for cavalry -- cohort.
All Wikipedia text
is available under the
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License