Halo (religious iconography) between the alternative terms in English is rather unclear. The oldest term in English is "glory", the only one available in the Middle Ages, but now largely obsolete. It came from the French "gloire" which has much the same range of meanings as "glory". "Gloriole" does not appear in this sense until 1844, being a modern invention, as a diminutive, in French also. "Halo" is first found in English in this sense in 1646 (nearly a century after the optical or astronomical sense). Both "halos" and "haloes" may be used as plural forms, and halo may be used as a
Aureole (horse) months before running in October at Newmarket here he contested the Middle Park Stakes, one of the year's most important two-year-old races. He finished sixth behind Nearula, a colt who went on to win the 1953 2000 Guineas. Aureole began his three-year-old season in the 2000 Guineas, in which he finished strongly to take fifth place behind Nearula. He was then moved up in distance for the Lingfield Derby Trial over one and a half miles. He won easily to establish himself as a leading contender for the Epsom Derby. In the week of his owner's coronation Aureole started at