Wiktionary explains that this expression originated “…from a French poem Roman de Fauvel, written in the early 1300s; Fauvel was a conniving stallion and the play was a satire on the corruption of social life.” The stallion’s name is from the French word fauve, which means “chestnut, reddish-yellow, or fawn.” There was a medieval belief that such a horse was a symbol of deceit and dishonesty. The expression began as curry Fauvel, which met “flattering the horse.” Fauvel transitioned to favor, and to curry favor refers to seeking “…to gain favor by flattery or attention.”