https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stallmeister

Borrowed to Russian шталмейстер 'in the Russian Empire - a court rank, first of the 6th class (1722-1766), then of the 3rd class (1766-1917)'

The title means "first stratōr", reflecting the office's initial аunction as chief of the stratores (στράτορες, "grooms") During the middle Byzantine period (up to the late 11th century), the official place of the imperial prōtostratōr in the hierarchy was not high, but its proximity to the emperor did facilitate a rapid rise of its holders. From the mid-11th century, the post rose in importance, becoming more an honorific dignity for senior members of the court, than an actual office. From the 13th century on, the post could be held by several persons, and ranked eighth in the overall hierarchy of the court. Throughout its history, it was a title often borne by senior military commanders.

Bury, J. B.; Philotheus (1911). The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century (With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos). London: Oxford University Press.
Guilland, Rodolphe (1967). "Le Protostrator". Recherches sur les institutions byzantines [Studies on the Byzantine Institutions]. Berliner byzantinische Arbeiten 35 (in French). Vol. I. Berlin and Amsterdam: Akademie-Verlag & Adolf M. Hakkert. pp. 478–497.
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. P. 416.
Kyrris, Costas P. (1968). "Στράτορος = [Πρωτοσ]τράτωρ, or Strator. A Military Institution in XVth Century Cyprus". Επετηρίς Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών. XXXVI: 119–138.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protostrator 

 Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 656

Рудаков В. Е. Конюший // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона.  т. XVI (1895): Конкорд — Коялович, с. 153.

Later, from the 3rd to the 13th centuries AD, a 司馬 was a relatively low-level military official, assistant to the regional chief for military affairs.

Modern Mandarin reading sīmǎ 

1213 "high-ranking officer in charge of the command of an army", 1263 marichauz de France "marshal of the Ile-de-France", 1617  mareschal de France "officer holding the highest rank in the army".

from Medieval Latin mariscalcus, from Frankish *marhskalk 'servant in charge of caring for horses', from *marh 'horse' + *skalk 'servant'

Compare Italian maniscalco 'blacksmith, farrier'

Middle High German marschalc 'officer in charge of the royal horse stables'