The Italian name of the cheese caciocavallo literally means "horse cheese" and it is generally thought that the name derives from the fact that two cheese forms are always bound together with rope and then left to mature by placing them 'a cavallo', i.e. straddling, upon a horizontal stick or branch; however, it is more likely that the name derives from Latin *cascabellus with the meaning of "[sleigh] bell" for its shape of a hanging ball; compare Spanish "cascabel" = "sleigh bell, rattle