The Spanish verb 'galopar' meaning 'to gallop' comes from the Old French word 'galoper'. This is a clear example of French influence on Spanish vocabulary, particularly in terms related to horsemanship and cavalry, which were important aspects of medieval European culture.

The noun form 'galope' (meaning 'gallop') is closely related to 'galopar' and might be more commonly encountered in everyday Spanish. You might also see the word 'galopante' (galloping), which is often used figuratively to describe something that's increasing rapidly, as in 'inflación galopante' (galloping inflation).

The English word 'gallop' is directly related to 'galopar', as they both come from the same French source. The similarity in both sound and meaning makes this connection easy to remember: 'galopar' and 'gallop' both describe the fastest natural running gait of a horse. The English word maintained a similar pronunciation but simplified the spelling by dropping the final '-er' of the French word and doubling the 'l'.