{"id":36996,"date":"2018-03-07T21:22:03","date_gmt":"2018-03-08T02:22:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=36996"},"modified":"2018-03-08T14:44:32","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T19:44:32","slug":"of-dogs-and-old-sinitic-reconstructions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=36996","title":{"rendered":"Of dogs and Old Sinitic reconstructions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At the conclusion of \"<a title=\"Permanent link to Barking roosters and crowing dogs\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=36763\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D36763&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253417000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH1O0djh__oqFNoyHQiydrQMDwCKw\">Barking roosters and crowing dogs<\/a>\" (2\/18\/18), I promised a more philologically oriented post to celebrate the advent of the lunar year of the dog.\u00a0 This is it.\u00a0 Concurrently, it is part of this long running series on Old Sinitic and Indo-European comparative reconstructions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201c<a title=\"Permanent link to Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24466\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24466&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253417000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFcVlhaPzec-f6XursPWeNkxBFBJg\">Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions<\/a>\u201d (3\/8\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a title=\"Permanent link to Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 2\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24595\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24595&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253417000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH8Eb9IbUFhOF8vF9qjOmaW-aqegQ\">Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 2<\/a>\u201d (3\/12\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a title=\"Permanent link to Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 3\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24705\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24705&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253417000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGUOzI3ITsA4IVkADfajut6pUrVBg\">Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 3<\/a>\u201d (3\/16\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\u201c<a title=\"Permanent link to Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 4\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24831\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24831&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253417000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGooq8rkGGSXaTLoAGfl5lIJfpb7w\">Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 4<\/a>\u201d (3\/24\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 5\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24918\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24918&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEKXyEPC1fSt1KPqXU-nwQAs0yyHA\">Of precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 5<\/a>\" (3\/28\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Of shumai and Old Sinitic reconstructions\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=26756\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D26756&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE1Luf5GVTbTnLdko3CWLmgcEJVDw\">Of shumai and Old Sinitic reconstructions<\/a>\" (7\/19\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Of felt hats, feathers, macaroni, and weasels\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=24590\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D24590&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHVCrmHPdx2O4VGwc1dGoXxXRdpaQ\">Of felt hats, feathers, macaroni, and weasels<\/a>\" (3\/13\/16)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Of armaments and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 6\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=35845\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D35845&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFVwYt33RxaXP4b0HdOchMpP6EoSw\">Of armaments and Old Sinitic reconstructions, part 6<\/a>\" (12\/23\/17)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I will launch into this post with the following simple prefatory statement:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Half a century ago, the first time I encountered the Old Sinitic reconstruction of Mandarin qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"dog\"), Karlgren GSR 479\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">*k'iw\u0259n<\/span>, I suspected that it might be related to an Indo-European word cognate with \"canine\" [&lt;<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">PIE *kwon-]<\/span>).<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Since that time, as I have continued my Sinological researches, I have come across many other terms in Sinitic that appear to have clear parallels with corresponding words in Indo-European (e.g., m\u01ce \u99ac [\"horse\"] \/ mare; g\u016blu \u8ef2\u8f46 \/\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/wheel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/wheel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNETVJKL0WuHWyVH0tksZTzcSWUq7Q\">wheel<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/cycle\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/cycle&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFt63KzxYxCOdCf4yO37PpUSc7z5Q\">cycle<\/a>; Cant.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E5%B7%AB#Etymology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%25E5%25B7%25AB%23Etymology&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTgzb7bmt-p3VmohNQybx5zsfz4w\">mou4 \u5deb<\/a>\u00a0\/ magus).\u00a0 I have never systematically written about all of these words together as a group, and I have never in the slightest asserted that, despite there being so many pairs of words like these that match between Sinitic and Indo-European, the two language families are genetically related.\u00a0 Rather, I maintain that there has been significant borrowing from at least the Bronze Age and probably beginning already before that time.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, as in the recent series of Language Log posts on such Sinitic-IE word pairs as those listed above, so far I have focused on phenomena that can be attested by archeological, technological, cultural, and historical evidence (i.e., the correspondences are not merely random, chance similarities, but have convincing empirical data and contextual reasons to support the linguistic comparanda).\u00a0 However, occasionally I come upon strikingly similar word pairs for which one would be hard pressed to find archeological, technological, cultural, and historical evidence.<\/p>\n<p>One example of the latter sort that has intrigued me for many years is the uncanny parallel between p\u012bm\u01d0\u00a0\u62ab\u9761 (Zhengzhang\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*p\u02b0ral\/\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*mral\u0294\/)<\/span>\u00a0and \"pell-mell\", both of which mean \"in a hasty, disorderly fashion\").\u00a0 Still, I do not put much faith in such comparisons of pairs that resemble each other both in sound and meaning but are lacking hard archeological, technological, cultural, and historical evidence. In the case of p\u012bm\u01d0\u00a0\u62ab\u9761 and \"pell-mell\", the former was used already more than two thousand years ago, whereas the latter cannot to my knowledge be traced back earlier than Old French (8th-14th c.).<\/p>\n<p>With qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"dog\") and \"canine\" we are on firmer ground, having a variety of types of evidence in addition to linguistic data.<\/p>\n<p>First the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E7%8A%AC#Etymology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%25E7%258A%25AC%23Etymology&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH1Q2FA0EQIFAwjXBECccifUYpbtQ\">historical reconstructions for qu\u01cen \u72ac<\/a>\u00a0(\"dog\"):<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Middle Sinitic (MS, ca. 600 AD)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 khwenX (Baxter-Sagart [B-S]) (\"X\" indicates rising tone)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">Old Sinitic (OS, ca. 600 BC)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*k\u02b0\u02b7e\u02d0n\u0294\/ (B-S);\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*k\u02b0\u02b7e\u02d0n\u0294\/ (<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">Zhengzhang [Zz])<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">Karlgren's earlier OS reconstruction was\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">*k'iw\u0259n; his MS reconstruction was\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">k'iw\u03b5n:.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">This is an old word in Sinitic, dating back to the earliest strata of the written language, ca. 1200 BC (see below for paleographical evidence.\u00a0 This is during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-ca. 1046 BC), in the 2nd millennium BC when there were many cultural innovations (almost like a \"package\"), including the wheel, chariot, utilization of the domesticated horse, cultivation of wheat, bronze technology and specific weapon types, and writing, many of which had evident linkages to the west.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">There is another Sinitic word for \"dog\", viz.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u \u72d7.\u00a0 Since it is superficially rather different from\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"dog\"), I have often pondered what its origins might be, whether it had a completely different source than\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u00a0\u72ac, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">Here are the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E7%8B%97#Pronunciation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%25E7%258B%2597%23Pronunciation&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-XPj67moOacXLYLcWEfmDwbLVQg\">historical reconstructions for\u00a0<\/a><\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E7%8B%97#Pronunciation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%25E7%258B%2597%23Pronunciation&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF-XPj67moOacXLYLcWEfmDwbLVQg\">g\u01d2u \u72d7<\/a>\u00a0(\"dog\"):<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">MS kuwX (B-S)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">OS\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*C\u0259.k\u02e4ro\u0294\/\u00a0(B-S);\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*ko\u02d0\u0294\/<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u00a0(Zz) (<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">*C- at the beginning of a B-S OS reconstruction just means some consonant [they believe there is a pre-initial consonant there, but they can\u2019t determine what it is])<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is both a Shang period oracle bone inscriptional (OBI) form and a Shang bronze inscriptional (BI) form for\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span>\u00a0\u72ac.\u00a0 They probably are essentially the same pictograph, but the disparate media make them look slightly different.\u00a0 On the other hand,\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u<\/span>\u00a0\u72d7, which has now largely displaced\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span>\u00a0\u72ac as the word for \"dog\" in the modern topolects (except for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Min_Chinese\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Min_Chinese&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNENzSEIgSQ8WTVg5B8QTFEkntofUw\">Min<\/a>, the most archaic living variety of Sinitic) doesn't seem to have existed before the Warring States period with the clear meaning of \"dog\".\u00a0 More details on the paleography of\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span>\u00a0\u72ac and\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u<\/span>\u00a0\u72d7 are presented below.<\/p>\n<p>Note that this year of the dog is called \"g\u01d2u ni\u00e1n \u72d7\u5e74\" by nearly all Chinese (12,200,000 ghits), not qu\u01cen ni\u00e1n \u72ac\u5e74 (383,000 ghits).<\/p>\n<p>There is a suggestion\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%E7%8B%97#Chinese\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/%25E7%258B%2597%23Chinese&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFne3Hi9xEogg0r-QI9p2i9SUNA0w\">here<\/a>\u00a0that\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u<\/span>\u00a0\u72d7 is \"from some language ancestral to modern\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439etyl\"><a class=\"m_2126561669759173439extiw\" title=\"w:Hmong-Mien languages\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hmong-Mien_languages\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hmong-Mien_languages&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHLbtO_YyigHpL2YQn2A-N8pbxoOg\">Hmong-Mien<\/a><\/span>\u00a0languages, from\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439etyl\"><a class=\"m_2126561669759173439extiw\" title=\"w:Proto-Hmong-Mien language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Proto-Hmong-Mien_language\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Proto-Hmong-Mien_language&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHxFpc1YT8vva-THRMF5mb65ZNdrQ\">Proto-Hmong-Mien<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<i class=\"m_2126561669759173439Latinx m_2126561669759173439mention\" lang=\"hmx-pro\"><a class=\"m_2126561669759173439new\" title=\"Reconstruction:Proto-Hmong-Mien\/qluw\u02e3 (page does not exist)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/w\/index.php?title=Reconstruction:Proto-Hmong-Mien\/qluw%CB%A3&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/w\/index.php?title%3DReconstruction:Proto-Hmong-Mien\/qluw%25CB%25A3%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF554L4AXbN2YyGPtmicfLI3wVEqg\">*qluw\u02e3<\/a><\/i>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-paren m_2126561669759173439annotation-paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-double-quote\">\u201c<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss\">dog<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-double-quote\">\u201d<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-paren m_2126561669759173439annotation-paren\">)<\/span>, perhaps from\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439etyl\"><a class=\"m_2126561669759173439extiw\" title=\"w:Proto-Austronesian language\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Proto-Austronesian_language\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Proto-Austronesian_language&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHDnEjoHxlNG1G3FJnbSaYZk4P4hA\">Proto-Austronesian<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<i class=\"m_2126561669759173439Latinx m_2126561669759173439mention\" lang=\"map-pro\"><a class=\"m_2126561669759173439new\" title=\"Reconstruction:Proto-Austronesian\/(u-)(\u014b)ku\u0263ku\u0263 (page does not exist)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/w\/index.php?title=Reconstruction:Proto-Austronesian\/%28u-%29%28%C5%8B%29ku%C9%A3ku%C9%A3&amp;action=edit&amp;redlink=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/w\/index.php?title%3DReconstruction:Proto-Austronesian\/%2528u-%2529%2528%25C5%258B%2529ku%25C9%25A3ku%25C9%25A3%26action%3Dedit%26redlink%3D1&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEI-VLo4dbkbM2c94cyrsNyoA55Eg\">*(u-)(\u014b)ku\u0263ku\u0263<\/a><\/i><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-paren m_2126561669759173439annotation-paren\">(<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-double-quote\">\u201c<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss\">dog<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-double-quote\">\u201d<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439mention-gloss-paren m_2126561669759173439annotation-paren\">)<\/span>.\"\u00a0 Before accepting this claim, we need to step back and take a deeper look at the historical phonological relationship between\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span>\u00a0\u72ac and\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u<\/span>\u00a0\u72d7.\u00a0 The following paragraphs are from Chris Button:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Old Chinese \u72ac *k\u02b0\u02b7\u0259\u0301\u0272<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439st\">\u0294<\/span>\u00a0is clearly related to (early\/pre-) Proto-Indo-European *k\u02b2won- (or more precisely *k\u02b2wan- since e\/o reflects \u0259\/a). The palatal nasal in OC generally comes from\u00a0an earlier medial\u00a0\"j\" palatalising a nasal coda (coronal, as in this case,\u00a0or velar) but you cannot have\u00a0medial \/j\/\u00a0and medial\u00a0\/w\/\u00a0as\u00a0*k\u02b0wj\u0259\u0301n<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439st\">\u0294\u00a0\u00a0or *k\u02b0jw\u0259\u0301n\u0294\u00a0would imply so, short of reconstructing uvular *q as\u00a0the initial which could have precipitated the rounding,\u00a0something external was probably going on here just\u00a0on the basis of\u00a0the internal OC phonology.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Pulleyblank's (1995) hypothesis that\u00a0\u72d7 *k<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439st\">\u00e1<\/span>w<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439st\">\u0294<\/span>\u00a0and \u72ac *k\u02b0\u02b7\u0259\u0301\u0272<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439st\">\u0294<\/span>\u00a0are related is probably correct, although I favor your\u00a01998 suggestion about different loans from Indo-European over his phonological permutations.\u00a0The fact that\u00a0early PIE\u00a0*k\u02b2won- gave standard PIE\u00a0*k\u02b2wo- provides good support for this since we do not have to account for the disappearance of the \"n\" in\u00a0Chinese as it had already disappeared in Indo-European\u00a0very early on.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">The phonotactic constraint in Old Chinese\u00a0against the co-occurrence of a medial \/w\/ and a medial \/j\/ also applied to Old Burmese. So while OC *-\u0259\u0272 corresponds with OB *-\u0250\u0272, a\u00a0combination like\u00a0*-w\u0250\u0272 could not occur in a native OB word in the same way that *-w\u0259\u0272 smacks of an external source in OC. I'm\u00a0only aware of one case of &lt;-w\u0250\u0272&gt;\u00a0in Inscriptional Burmese in the word\u00a0&lt;klw\u0250\u0272&gt; \"serve\", that\u00a0is also written in a more expected form as &lt;klw<b><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPA\" title=\"Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)\">\u0268<\/span><\/b>j&gt;. As such the Burmese word\u00a0*k\u02b0w<b><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPA\" title=\"Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)\">\u0268<\/span><\/b>j2 \"dog\"\u00a0(tone 2 parallels the glottal in Old Chinese) would be the expected reflex of an external *k\u02b0w\u0250\u02722 which would\u00a0then correlate perfectly with the Old Chinese form\u00a0\u72ac *k\u02b0\u02b7\u0259\u0301\u0272<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439x_st\">\u0294<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Mair 1988 mentioned by Chris above is this:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Victor H. Mair, \"Canine Conundrums:\u00a0 Eurasian Dog Ancestor Myths in Historical and Ethnic Perspective,\" Sino-Platonic Papers, 87 (October, 1998), 1-74.\u00a0 (That was published in the days when I had to write in many diacritical marks and non-standard characters by hand.\u00a0 Consequently, a few schwas got dropped out &#8212; they are easily spotted by an empty space.)\u00a0 Free pdf available online\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.sino-platonic.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.sino-platonic.org\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFJLpahSH6GxFGp6pWb63goM0VFrw\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than needlessly inflate this already long blog post by typing in a lot of material that is readily available in that article, I would strongly encourage anyone who is interested in the deep linguistic and cultural linkages between human beings and dogs to read pp. 22-24, where I discuss how the overwhelming majority the daughter languages of the Indo-European family share a common word for \"dog\", and how the dog played a key role in IE culture.\u00a0 More surprisingly, I show how the same word for \"dog\" that was present in PIE from its inception, namely\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">*kwon-,<\/span>\u00a0extends far beyond IE to many languages in other branches of the Nostratic macrofamily, but not to Sinitic, which arose later, so that qu\u01cen \u72ac OS\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*k\u02b0\u02b7e\u02d0n\u0294\/ MS\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">khwenX (remember that final \"X\" indicates rising tone for B-S) must have been borrowed from an IE derivate of\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">PIE *kwon-.\u00a0 In the course of my analysis, I show how the hypothetical Nostratic root for \"dog\", *k[h]w<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u0259n or *k[h]wan (bracketed \"h\" should be a small superscript), has not been securely established as genetically pertinent to all of the families normally placed within the Nostratic macrofamily; it is germane only in IE and Afro-Asiatic, but not in Kartvelian, Uralic, Dravidian, and \"Altaic\".\u00a0 In Afro-Asiatic, furthermore, the common hypothetical root for \"dog\" is firmly established only in the Hamitic branch, but not in the Semitic branch.\u00a0 This affords an approximate idea of the time-depth at which the common word for domesticated dog (<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">*k[h]w\u0259n or *k[h]wan) arose and was shared by speakers of the languages enumerated just above:\u00a0 closer to 6000 BC than to 10,000 BC, but before 4000 BC, by which time IE had established itself as an independent family.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u03ba\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd is securely documented in ancient Greek (from Homer on [see\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dku%2Fwn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc%3DPerseus%253Atext%253A1999.04.0057%253Aentry%253Dku%252Fwn&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFpBo1wXxFV4ZvCMp516geD8uZkJQ\">Liddell and Scott<\/a>]) and I begin my \"Canine Conundrums\" paper with a discussion of how the word \"cynic\" comes from the Greek adjective kunikos<i>\u00a0<\/i>(\"doglike\") &lt; ku<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u014dn (\"dog\").\u00a0 In the Mediterranean region, there were undoubtedly many cognates to Greek\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">ku\u014dn\u00a0among IE sister languages.\u00a0 Indeed, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hittite_language\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hittite_language&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHpaC-8KHuVKTB5wYf-AG4nVKVIzg\">Hittite<\/a>\u00a0word for \"dog\" is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indo-European_vocabulary#Animals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Indo-European_vocabulary%23Animals&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHoEkwnGrU1Bq70GtXTpl5Yvt0RVQ\">kun-<\/a>.\u00a0 Since Hittite dates to\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">the 16th-13th cc. BC, this puts us in the proper time frame for correlation with\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">OS\u00a0\/*k\u02b0\u02b7e\u02d0n\u0294\/<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">Similarly, I show how g\u01d2u \u72d7<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u00a0(\"dog\"),\u00a0<\/span>MS kuwX OS\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\/*ko\u02d0\u0294\/<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u00a0(Zz)<\/span>, was most likely a later borrowing from Tocharian ku.\u00a0 This would make good sense, since the Tocharians, though centum speakers, were right at China's back door and are the acknowledged source of the borrowed words for \"honey\" and \"lion\" in Sinitic.<\/p>\n<p>Dogs were intimately associated with humans in IE society from the very beginnings of the family,\u00a0 In J.P. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, ed.\u00a0<i>Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture<\/i>\u00a0(London and Chicago:\u00a0 Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997), p. 168a, Mallory states that the remains of dogs are abundant in Mesolithic sites over a wide range of Eurasia inhabited by Indo-Europeans.\u00a0 Anne-Sofie Gr\u00e4slund, in \"Dogs in graves &#8212; a question of symbolism?\", in Barbro Santillo Frizell, ed.,\u00a0<i>Man and animal in antiquity<\/i>\u00a0(The Swedish Institute in Rome, 2004), p. 167b of 167-176 describes how greatly human beings honored their treasured dogs:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">From Mesolithic cemeteries in Denmark and Southern Sweden (c. 5000 BC), we know of separate dog graves, where the dogs have been buried with the same carefulness as human beings.\u00a0 They lie crouched as if they sleep, covered with red ochre, in single cases they have even got grave goods.\u00a0 In Swedish Bronze Age cremation graves dog bones from most parts of the body occur, in contrast to, for example, pig bones and sheep bones, which occur only from fleshy parts of the animal, used for food.<\/p>\n<p>Dogs in earliest IE society were used for hunting, herding, and companionship, and as guards.<\/p>\n<p>In Zoroastrian religion, the dog played a key role in rituals associated with death and was treated with utmost veneration for its power in warding off malign forces.<\/p>\n<p>In sharp contrast, I shall never forget an experience I had about twenty years ago in a museum in Xianyang outside Xi'an.\u00a0 This was at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Han_Yang_Ling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Han_Yang_Ling&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG5bHUKgNXR986dLcNrJOTvD5wbzQ\">Yangling Museum<\/a>\u00a0just after it had opened at the mausoleum of the Han Dynasty\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emperor_Jing_of_Han\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emperor_Jing_of_Han&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGKM8uI4JMandvSZZ5wPFzfhxvlxw\">Emperor Jing<\/a>\u00a0(188-141 BC; r. 157-141BC).\u00a0 I was one of the first people to go down into the ingeniously designed subterranean chambers of the museum.\u00a0 The scale of the mausoleum was enormous, and it included all of the palatial furnishings, utensils, equipment, personnel (figurines), and other accoutrements that the emperor would need in the afterworld.\u00a0 But the part of the subterranean museum that transfixed me the most were row after row after row of terracotta statues of dogs.\u00a0 The guide told me that, like the sheep and pigs nearby, these dogs were raised and butchered for meat.\u00a0 I was especially struck by how bulky the dogs were, as though they were bred with the intent of maximizing the flesh on their bones.\u00a0 This was still true in 1889, for which see\u00a0Appletons\u2019 Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important Events:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/edibledog.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/edibledog.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dogs in traditional Chinese society generally were treated with contempt and cruelly abused (of course, there were exceptions, especially among the extremely wealthy and the nobility):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to \" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=3752\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D3752&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFGziOy2Nh24jkCWX7Vy_OasZpolA\">'Hong Kong people are dogs!'<\/a>\" (2\/7\/12)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Dogs and Japanese not admitted\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=4500\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D4500&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253418000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGTENQrkqmKXZY-37rSK97CN_M7XQ\">Dogs and Japanese not admitted<\/a>\" (3\/2\/13)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to No Japanese, South Koreans, or dogs\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=31458\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D31458&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGjrTXtSM0sDdqPNEhaUj_5I-4ZnQ\">No Japanese, South Koreans, or dogs<\/a>\" (3\/8\/17)<\/li>\n<li>\"<a title=\"Permanent link to Written public cursing in Hong Kong\" href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=32457\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D32457&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHfgxR6HVN7vQ95AV74PWgh0O0I-Q\">Written public cursing in Hong Kong<\/a>\" (3\/3\/17)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It goes without saying that, in the West, a dog is a \"man's best friend\".\u00a0 That is obvious any day of the week when I walk around the little town of Swarthmore where I live, but it's true in any American town.<\/p>\n<p>Turning now from dogs in China and words for \"dog\" in Chinese to words for dogs in English, I will focus on four main terms:\u00a0 dog, hound, canine, cur.\u00a0 For a short, easy introduction to this lexical quartet, here are the entries on them in the Online Etymology Dictionary:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>dog<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/dog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/dog&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE3zv3YP80qqiEEv-uG66fhs4pjwQ\">OEtymD<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Old English\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">docga<\/span>, a late, rare word, used in at least one Middle English source in reference to a powerful breed of canine. The word forced out Old English\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hund<\/span>\u00a0(the general Germanic and Indo-European word, from root from PIE root\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439crossreference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref=etymonline_crossreference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref%3Detymonline_crossreference&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEF1h7Z-bere8cEZCyc9vh8Xk5lKw\">*kwon-<\/a>) by 16c. and subsequently was picked up in many continental languages (French\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">dogue<\/span>\u00a0(16c.), Danish\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">dogge<\/span>, German\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">Dogge<\/span>\u00a0(16c.)), but the origin remains one of the great mysteries of English etymology.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>hound<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/hound\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/hound&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGuwHLkFxLPWwu8-Zdd6_NC9S9zBw\">OEtymD<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Old English\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hund<\/span>\u00a0\"dog,\" from Proto-Germanic\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">*hundas<\/span>\u00a0(source also of Old Saxon and Old Frisian\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hund<\/span>, Old High German\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hunt<\/span>, German\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">Hund<\/span>, Old Norse\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hundr<\/span>, Gothic\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">hunds<\/span>), from PIE\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">*kwnto-<\/span>, dental enlargement of root\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439crossreference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref=etymonline_crossreference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref%3Detymonline_crossreference&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEF1h7Z-bere8cEZCyc9vh8Xk5lKw\">*kwon-<\/a>\u00a0\"dog.\" Meaning narrowed 12c. to \"dog used for hunting\" (compare\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439crossreference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/dog?ref=etymonline_crossreference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/dog?ref%3Detymonline_crossreference&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEpoCGLOELB3wlt8sUFMGmY3F_zfw\">dog<\/a>\u00a0(n.)). Contemptuously, of a man, from late Old English.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>canine<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/canine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/canine&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHfE6FwyKA4Xx5dzmqXQG-_16grXw\">OEtymD<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">late 14c., \"a pointed tooth,\" from Latin\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">caninus<\/span>\u00a0\"of the dog,\" genitive of\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">canis<\/span>\u00a0\"dog\" (source of Italian\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">cane<\/span>, French\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">chien<\/span>), from PIE root\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439crossreference\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref=etymonline_crossreference\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/word\/*kwon-?ref%3Detymonline_crossreference&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEF1h7Z-bere8cEZCyc9vh8Xk5lKw\">*kwon-<\/a>\u00a0\"dog.\" The meaning \"a dog\" is first recorded 1869.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><strong>cur<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q=cur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/www.etymonline.com\/search?q%3Dcur&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHW3e5SqGc_3JuryKoDX8mOtLHAnA\">OEtymD<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439word--C9UPa m_2126561669759173439word_thumbnail--2DBNk\">early 13c.,\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">curre<\/span>, earlier\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">kurdogge<\/span>\u00a0used of both vicious dogs and cowardly dogs, probably from Old Norse\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">kurra<\/span>\u00a0or Middle Low German\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439foreign\">korren<\/span>\u00a0both echoic, both meaning \"to growl.\" Compare Swedish dialectal kurre, Middle Dutch corre \"house dog.\"<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Most authorities, such as my beloved\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=4326\">American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language<\/a>, with its esteemed appendix of \"Indo-European Roots\", trace \"hound\" and \"canine\" back to\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">PIE *kwon-.\u00a0 Similarly, scholars such as Carl Darling Buck,\u00a0<i>A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages<\/i>\u00a0(Chicago:\u00a0 University of Chicago Press, 1949), 3.61, pp. 178-179, and Robert K. Barnhart,\u00a0<i>The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology<\/i>\u00a0(Bronx, New York:\u00a0 H. W. Wilson, 1988), pp. 139b, 493ab hold that most of the common, general words for \"dog\" in IE languages derive from\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">PIE *kwon-.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Don Ringe takes a more nuanced, cautious view on \"canine\":<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">PGmc. *hundaz seems to reflect a derivative of PIE *\u1e31w\u00f3n- ~ *\u1e31un-, but Lat. canis (the source of canine) cannot, because there's no way to account for (1) the vowel and (2) the loss of *w.\u00a0 It does seem to be related to Welsh ceneu 'puppy', pl. canawon (&lt; pre-Welsh, maybe Proto-Celtic *kanaw\u016b, pl. *kanawones), so there might have been an Italo-Celtic word *kan- of unknown origin.\u00a0 English 'cur' also has nothing to do with the PIE word (no nasal; no known source for the r).\u00a0 It seems to be connected to similar Middle Dutch and (not very early attested) Scandinavian words of similar meaning that might be related to a Norse verb meaning 'growl'; if so, then the word was probably onomatopoeic and could have been invented at any time.\u00a0 'Dog' is even more obscure:\u00a0 it appears in late OE, apparently out of nowhere, and similar words in other languages appear even later and actually seem to have been borrowed from English.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">So it's only 'hound' that goes back to PGmc. and (with modification) PIE; the others are all of unknown origin at one date or another.<\/p>\n<p>As pointed out in my December 23, 2017\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=35845\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p%3D35845&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGp6KxkD5ekmUD_tc-66K17MCzh9Q\">post on f\u00e1 \u7782 (\"pelta\")<\/a>, I was inspired by the relevant entry in Paul Kroll's\u00a0<i>A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese<\/i>\u00a0(Leiden: Brill, 2015).\u00a0 Likewise, I would say that in the present case his entries on qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"dog\") and\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u \u72d7 (\"dog\"), although brief, reveal an uncanny, innate, subconscious philological awareness of the issues I have explicitly raised in this post:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b>\u72ac\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><b>qu\u01cen\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><b>MC khwenX<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. dog; canine; cur.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">a. pejorative term for a contemptible person, wretch, knave<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><b><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u72d7\u00a0\u00a0g\u01d2u\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/b><b><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">MC kuwX<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">1. dog, esp. smaller dog (cf.\u00a0<\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">\u72ac\u00a0<i>qu\u01cen<\/i>, larger dog); cur; e.g. (med.) ~\u7a81\u00a0<i>g<\/i><\/span><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\"><i>\u01d2ut\u016b<\/i>, dog-door.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">a. hunting-dog, hound.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To conclude with a bit of levity, first, because strict Muslims consider them to be unclean animals, the dog and the pig are whitewashed from the Chinese zodiac in Malaysia:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\"<a href=\"http:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/zodiac-dog-pig-go-missing-for-chinese-new-year\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/asia\/se-asia\/zodiac-dog-pig-go-missing-for-chinese-new-year&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFyWUDhpS_7i1sUZehRF4qEDQ5zJg\">Zodiac dog, pig go missing for Chinese New Year<\/a>\", by Trinna Leong, Straits Times (1\/10\/18)<\/p>\n<p>Second, in this year of the dog, \"ten canines\" is a pun for \"perfect in every respect\".<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">sh\u00ed qu\u01cen sh\u00ed m\u011bi<br \/>\nsh\u00edqu\u00e1nsh\u00edm\u011bi<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">\u5341\u72ac\u5341\u7f8e<br \/>\n\u5341\u5168\u5341\u7f8e<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">ten canines, ten beauties<br \/>\nten complete, ten beauties<\/p>\n<p>Note that, for the pun to work, qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"canine\") is used instead of\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u \u72d7 (\"dog\").<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Appendices<\/b><\/p>\n<p>1. Paleographical evidence for the earliest known forms of qu\u01cen \u72ac (\"dog\") and\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">g\u01d2u \u72d7 (\"dog\") (by Matt Anderson)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The Shang oracle bone inscription \/ bronze inscription (OBI \/ BI) forms are the same pictograph, though the BI forms are typically far more elaborated:<\/p>\n<p>Shang BI (from Yan Zhibin\u2019s \u56b4\u5fd7\u658c\u00a0<i>Shang jinwen bian<\/i>):<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/shangbi.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/shangbi.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And here are OBI forms (from Liu Zhao's \u5289\u91d7\u00a0<i>Xin jiaguwen bian<\/i>):<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/shangobi.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/shangobi.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"475\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You can see that the OBI forms appear in more or less simplified variants, and that a few of the BI forms are as simplified as the simplest OBI variants. And two of the last OBI forms given by Li Zongkun (one of which is also the last given by Liu Zhao) are almost as elaborate as the most elaborated BI forms.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not aware of \u72d7 being used for\u00a0<i>g\u01d2u<\/i>\u00a0\u201cdog\u201d before the Warring States, but there is an early Western Zhou BI (the Chang Zi Gou ding \u9577\u5b50\u72d7\u9f0e) that appears to use the graph \u72d7, or at least something structurally identical. It\u2019s being used for a given name, though, not as the name of a kind of animal (it\u2019s the topmost form below, from Gao Ming\u2019s \u9ad8\u660e\u00a0<i>Guwenzi leibian\u2014zengding ben<\/i>):<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/gaoming.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/gaoming.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The full inscription reads (with my quick translation):<\/p>\n<p>\u9577\u5b50\u72d7\u4e4d\u6587\u7236\u4e59\u5c0a\u5f5d<br \/>\nPrince Gou of Chang made this ritual vessel (in honor of) his accomplished father Yi.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no way to know what meaning (if any) the word\u00a0<i>g\u01d2u<\/i>\u00a0(or at least the graph \u72d7) has here (aside from its use as a personal name of course), but it\u2019s perhaps interesting that this vessel is from the south (from the Wuhan area).<\/p>\n<p>2.<\/p>\n<p>For the record, here are the OED etymologies for \"dog\", \"hound\", \"canine\", and \"cur\".\u00a0 It's curious that the most opaque one, \"dog\", is also the most used word for dog nowadays and receives the most extensive treatment from the editors of the OED.\u00a0 The one that seems the most transparent, \"canine\", is not much used now and is given the shortest treatment by the OED editors.\u00a0 Both in terms of use and in editorial treatment, \"hound\" and \"cur\" fall between the other two.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><b>dog<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"m_2126561669759173439etymologySpanBlock1\"><strong>Etymology:\u00a0<\/strong>Origin unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The word belongs to a set of words of uncertain or phonologically problematic etymology with a stem-final geminated\u00a0<em>g<\/em>\u00a0in Old English which is not due to West Germanic consonant gemination and therefore does not undergo assibilation. These words form both a morphological and a semantic group, as they are usually Old English weak masculine nouns and denote animals; compare\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/74855#eid139665696\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"74855 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/74855#eid139665696\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/74855%23eid139665696&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFZ4xIH2QY1J4RSLhRXeK5EImoQzQ\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">frog<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a id=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-c23\" class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup m_2126561669759173439gmail-cancelled\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/87576#eid1423683\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"87576 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/87576#eid1423683\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/87576%23eid1423683&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHustOaJm8jWizwq1gGsT8nvI3HpA\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">hog<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/143654#eid30633815\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"143654 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/143654#eid30633815\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/143654%23eid30633815&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFq79JbJp308CcQ5hMbMCaOk123Qg\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">pig<\/span><wbr \/>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/188645#eid21133236\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"188645 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/188645#eid21133236\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/188645%23eid21133236&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGRagp7BD7EnqzoY4uE0x995fMZTg\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">stag<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>, Old English\u00a0<em>sugga<\/em>\u00a0(see\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/84849#eid1826479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"84849 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/84849#eid1826479\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/84849%23eid1826479&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEnQTP5azr2aJstWPgxpkB5_gdnhA\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">haysugge<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<\/span><\/span><\/a><wbr \/>), Old English\u00a0<em>wicga<\/em>\u00a0(see\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/59067#eid5921175\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"59067 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/59067#eid5921175\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/59067%23eid5921175&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHhsDfqre3DvrGNC8xDV7icRHVlbA\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">earwig<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<\/span><\/span><\/a>), and perhaps\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/198604#eid19110379\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"198604 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/198604#eid19110379\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/198604%23eid19110379&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEWTxGxyXBVczeom_rcLIzAM27oAA\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">teg<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0It has been suggested that these words show expressive gemination, perhaps due to their being originally hypocoristic forms. (For discussion see R. M. Hogg \u2018Two Geminate Consonants in Old English\u2019 in J. Anderson\u00a0<em>Lang. Form &amp; Ling. Variation<\/em>\u00a0(1982) 187\u2013202.) For some of the words, substratal influence has also been considered (compare\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/143654#eid30633815\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"143654 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/143654#eid30633815\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/143654%23eid30633815&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFq79JbJp308CcQ5hMbMCaOk123Qg\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">pig<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>). Because attestation of these words in Old English is generally rare and confined to glossaries and onomastic evidence (as in the case of\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56405?rskey=ddqL9m&amp;result=1&amp;isAdvanced=false#eid6362847\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"56405 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/56405#eid6362847\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56405?rskey%3DddqL9m%26result%3D1%26isAdvanced%3Dfalse%23eid6362847&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGpBBQYgUK53SiIySG_RZJPWwTYtw\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">dog<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>), if they are attested at all, and also because there is often a better-attested synonym (in this case,\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/88855#eid1340983\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"88855 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/88855#eid1340983\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/88855%23eid1340983&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEhgyqFgtpqSpYYegkSUMw1I2o7Hg\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">hound<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>), it seems likely that the words were stylistically marked in Old English, i.e. considered non-literary or informal.<\/p>\n<p>The word is attested twice as a place-name element (in the genitive plural) in a 14th-cent. copy of an Anglo-Saxon charter of 941 granting land at Buckland Newton, Dorset (<em>doggene berwe<\/em>\u00a0is probably to be identified with Dogbury Hill, an ancient hill fort):<\/p>\n<p><i>a<\/i>1400 \u00a0(<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-dateWedge\">\u25b8OE)\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<em>Bounds<\/em>\u00a0(Sawyer 474) in W. de G. Birch\u00a0<em>Cartularium Saxonicum<\/em>\u00a0(1887) II. 500\u00a0\u00a0 Endelang stremes on doggene ford \u00feanen up on doggene berwe.<\/p>\n<p>It is also perhaps attested (in the compound\u00a0<em>doggi\u00feorn<\/em>\u00a0) in a late 12th-cent. copy of another charter purportedly recording a grant of land in Gloucestershire made\u00a0<i>a<\/i>959, although it is unclear whether the form here represents this word or its derivative\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56458#eid6375244\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"56458 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/56458#eid6375244\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56458%23eid6375244&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253419000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFCE6t7SWMJhJwnAq08TIJpgCHfAw\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">doggy<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">adj.<\/span><\/span><\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><i>c<\/i>1175 \u00a0(<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-dateWedge\">\u25b8?OE)\u00a0<em>Bounds<\/em>\u00a0(Sawyer 664) in W. de G. Birch\u00a0<em>Cartularium Saxonicum<\/em>\u00a0(1893) III. 113<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 Of pislege on doggi\u00feorn, of \u00feam \u00feorne to eadingham.<\/p>\n<p>Compare also the following place names:\u00a0<em>Dogeflod<\/em>\u00a0, Surrey (1257; formerly Dogflood, now lost),\u00a0<em>Doggeworth<\/em>\u00a0, Devon (1281; now Dogsworthy), etc.<\/p>\n<p>Also early as an element in bynames and surnames; compare:\u00a0<em><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-roman\">Syward<\/span>\u00a0Dogheafd<\/em>\u00a0(<i>a<\/i>119<wbr \/>5),\u00a0<em><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-roman\">Richard<\/span>\u00a0Doggetall'<\/em>\u00a0(1201),<wbr \/>\u00a0<em><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-roman\">Robertus<\/span>\u00a0Doggefel<\/em>\u00a0(1201),\u00a0<em><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-roman\">Rob<wbr \/>ertus<\/span>\u00a0Doggisheued<\/em>\u00a0(1204), etc. Compare also\u00a0<em><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-roman\">Roger<\/span>\u00a0le Doge<\/em>\u00a0(1296).<\/p>\n<p>The word occurs in a number of other European languages, considerably later than in English, and in many cases with the identifying attribute \u2018English\u2019. All of these instances probably show borrowing either directly or indirectly &lt; English. Compare Dutch\u00a0<em>dog<\/em>\u00a0(16th cent.; in early modern Dutch also\u00a0<em>dogge<\/em>\u00a0), German\u00a0<em>Dogge<\/em>\u00a0(16th cent. as\u00a0<em>dock<\/em>\u00a0,\u00a0<em>docke<\/em>\u00a0; 17th cent. as\u00a0<em>dogg<\/em>\u00a0,\u00a0<em>dogge<\/em>\u00a0), Swedish\u00a0<em>dogg<\/em>\u00a0(17th cent.), Danish\u00a0<em>dogge<\/em>\u00a0,\u00a0<em>dog<\/em>\u00a0(<i>a<\/i>1700); French\u00a0<em>dogue<\/em>\u00a0(15th cent. in Middle French denoting a type of hunting dog; 14th cent. as an insult used to a Frenchman by an Englishman), Spanish\u00a0<em>dogo<\/em>\u00a0(1644), Portuguese\u00a0<em>dogue<\/em>\u00a0(1789; 1727 as \u2020<em>dogo<\/em>\u00a0), Italian\u00a0<em>dogo<\/em>\u00a0(19th cent.;\u00a0<i>a<\/i>1712 in the diminutive\u00a0<em>doghetto<\/em>\u00a0). In all of these languages the word is applied more narrowly to particular varieties of dogs, usually mastiffs. This probably reflects the types of dogs which were imported from or associated with Britain, and probably has no bearing on the early meaning of the word in English.<\/p>\n<p>The etymology of the English word is unknown. No likely cognates have been identified with a meaning at all close to that of the English word, and all attempted etymological explanations are extremely speculative. A word of this phonological shape is hard to explain as a regular development from a Germanic base, but nonetheless a number of attempts have been made. One attempt sees a connection with the Germanic base of\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/57168#eid6193638\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"57168 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/57168#eid6193638\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/57168%23eid6193638&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHHPiOKkkn-9abhLa9tcS3DYFE0gw\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">dow<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">v.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>, assuming an original meaning such as \u2018useful or faithful animal\u2019, but this has not met with general acceptance. In this connection an Old English personal name\u00a0<em>Dycga<\/em>\u00a0is sometimes compared as a possible formal parallel from the same base, but it is quite possible that the personal name has no connection with\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56405?rskey=ddqL9m&amp;result=1&amp;isAdvanced=false#eid6362847\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"56405 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/56405#eid6362847\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/56405?rskey%3DddqL9m%26result%3D1%26isAdvanced%3Dfalse%23eid6362847&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwwrSE4JiufKzWAL_2kzg7c8oghQ\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">dog<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<sup>1<\/sup><\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0Another attempted etymology takes the word ultimately from the Indo-European base probably meaning \u2018run\u2019 which is probably reflected by Sanskrit\u00a0<em>dhav-<\/em>\u00a0(see\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/153219#eid27955289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"153219 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/153219#eid27955289\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/153219%23eid27955289&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFQ9AhCyDXJ1fErbjaGkn8n4rAZjg\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-smallCaps\">prothetely<\/span><wbr \/>\u00a0<span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-ps\">n.<\/span><\/span><\/a>), but this poses a number of formal difficulties. Another suggestion is that the word shows a development from an Indo-European base meaning \u2018to be or become unconscious\u2019, but this involves a very large number of unattested stages in the semantic development (assuming a development \u2018bundle\u2019 &gt; \u2018cuddly bundle\u2019 &gt; \u2018pet\u2019 &gt; \u2018dog\u2019), and also involves a very uncertain original base form.<\/p>\n<p><b>hound<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span id=\"m_2126561669759173439etymologySpanBlock1\"><strong>Etymology:\u00a0<\/strong>Common Germanic: Old English\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>\u00a0= Old Frisian\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>,\u00a0<em>hond<\/em>, Old Saxon\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>\u00a0(Low German\u00a0<\/span><em>hund<\/em>, Middle Dutch\u00a0<em>hont<\/em>\u00a0(<em>d-<\/em>), Dutch\u00a0<em>hond<\/em>), Old High German\u00a0<em>hunt<\/em>\u00a0(<em>d-<\/em>), (Middle High German\u00a0<em>hunt<\/em>, German\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>), Old Norse\u00a0<em>hundr<\/em>\u00a0(Swedish, Danish\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>), Gothic\u00a0<em>hunds<\/em>\u00a0&lt; Old Germanic\u00a0<em>*hundo-z<\/em>, generally held to be a derivative of base\u00a0<em>*hun-<\/em>, pre-Germanic\u00a0<em>*kun-<\/em>, in Greek\u00a0<em>\u03ba\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd<\/em>,\u00a0<em>\u03ba\u03c5\u03bd-<\/em>, Sanskrit\u00a0<em>\u00e7wan-<\/em>,\u00a0<em>\u00e7un-<\/em>, Lithuanian\u00a0<em>sz\u016f<\/em>,\u00a0<em>szun-<\/em>, Old Irish\u00a0<em>cu<\/em>\u00a0dog; compare also Latin\u00a0<em>canis<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For the\u00a0<em>d<\/em>\u00a0(<em>dh<\/em>) of Germanic\u00a0<em>hund<\/em>, the suggestion has been made of association with the verb\u00a0<em>hin\u00fean<\/em>\u00a0to seize, as if the word were understood to mean \u2018the seizer\u2019.<\/p>\n<p><b>canine<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Etymology:\u00a0<\/strong>&lt; Latin\u00a0<em>can\u012bnus<\/em>, &lt;\u00a0<em>canis<\/em>\u00a0dog; compare French\u00a0<em>canin<\/em>, 16th cent.<\/p>\n<p><b>cur<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Etymology:<\/strong><span id=\"m_2126561669759173439etymologySpanBlock1\">\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"m_2126561669759173439etymologySpanBlock1\">Middle English\u00a0<em>curre<\/em>\u00a0corresponds to Middle Dutch\u00a0<em>corre<\/em><\/span><span id=\"m_2126561669759173439etymologySpanBlock2\">\u00a0\u2018canis villaticus, domesticus\u2019 (Kilian), Swedish and Norwegian (widely-spread) dialect\u00a0<em>kurre<\/em>,\u00a0<em>korre<\/em>\u00a0\u2018dog\u2019, etc. The latter is generally associated with the onomatopoeic verb Old Norse\u00a0<em>kurra<\/em>\u00a0to murmur, grumble, Swedish\u00a0<em>kurra<\/em>\u00a0to grumble, rumble, snarl, Danish\u00a0<em>kurre<\/em>\u00a0to coo, German obsolete and dialect\u00a0<em>kurren<\/em>\u00a0to growl, grumble, murmur, coo, compare\u00a0<em>gurren<\/em>\u00a0to coo, Middle High German\u00a0<em>g\u00fcrren<\/em>\u00a0to bray as an ass. The primary sense appears thus to have been \u2018growling or snarling beast\u2019. But no corresponding verb appears in English, so that Middle English\u00a0<em>kurre<\/em>\u00a0was probably introduced from some continental source. The combination\u00a0<em>kur-dogge<\/em>\u00a0is met with considerably earlier than the simple\u00a0<em>kurre<\/em>,\u00a0<em>cur<\/em>. Senses\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/45943?redirectedFrom=cur#eid7530445\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"45943 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/45943#eid7530445\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/45943?redirectedFrom%3Dcur%23eid7530445&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGx0gxFaB1vYE3XqLKiqfEHm0eOKQ\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\">2<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-crossReferencePopup\" href=\"http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/45943?redirectedFrom=cur#eid7530483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"45943 noopener\" rev=\"\/view\/Entry\/45943#eid7530483\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/www.oed.com\/view\/Entry\/45943?redirectedFrom%3Dcur%23eid7530483&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEiWVaUs_9Sgwqn9FciOUCtPcipUQ\"><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439gmail-xref\">3<\/span><\/a>\u00a0are possibly independent echoic formations.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>3.<\/p>\n<p>Miscellaneous notes on \"dog\", \"canine\", and \"cur\" from Jichang Lulu:<\/p>\n<p><b>Dog<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\"<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.oup.com\/2016\/05\/dog-etymology-word-origin-part-1-tyke\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/blog.oup.com\/2016\/05\/dog-etymology-word-origin-part-1-tyke\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFdRFrOxPezMuk_GO6eJgy4HEaTlw\">Not a dog\u2019s chance, or one more impenetrable etymology<\/a>\", by Anatoly Liberman, OUPblog (5\/4\/16).<\/p>\n<p>This (\"<a href=\"https:\/\/taaldacht.nl\/the-origin-of-dog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/taaldacht.nl\/the-origin-of-dog\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253420000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHx_9Q-EDTs5DXhnBomtepAAMbt8Q\">The origin of dog<\/a>\" by Olivier van Renswoude) is also interesting, with two newer proposed etymologies: one related to 'dusk', another to 'duck'.<\/p>\n<p><b>Canine (and\u00a0<\/b><b><span class=\"m_2126561669759173439IPAchar\">qu\u01cen<\/span><\/b><b>\u00a0\u72ac)<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/%E1%B8%B1w%E1%B9%93\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/%25E1%25B8%25B1w%25E1%25B9%2593&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHf-2_iLOxndMXzKTOq3Ve5tt_YLg\">Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-<wbr \/>European\/\u1e31w\u1e53<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan\/d-k%CA%B7%C9%99j-n\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-Tibetan\/d-k%CA%B7%C9%99j-n&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHRgGVNnyUD9c_1RUkw8_P0NuF1Pw\">Reconstruction:Proto-Sino-<wbr \/>Tibetan\/d-k\u02b7\u0259j-n<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>Cur<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The (rare) Dutch form\u00a0<i>corre\/korre<\/i>, presumably cognate to\u00a0<i>cur<\/i>, apparently isn't attested in Middle Dutch (~1200-1500), as per the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/gtb.inl.nl\/iWDB\/search?actie=article&amp;wdb=MNW&amp;id=23406\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/gtb.inl.nl\/iWDB\/search?actie%3Darticle%26wdb%3DMNW%26id%3D23406&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF9PieDzHh51tqM_pMHyzM7FASnCg\">Middelnederlands(sch) Woordenboek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The source for it is Kiel=Kiliaan=Kilianus' 1599 dictionary (<i>Etymologicum teutonicae linguae, sive dictionarium teutonico-latinum&#8230;<\/i>); here's the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/etymologicvmtev00hassgoog#page\/n292\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/etymologicvmtev00hassgoog%23page\/n292\/mode\/2up&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJebSSh_A5n1B7vNXOe5haY5qfzQ\">entry from the 1777 edition<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Checking orig just to make sure&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Yup. It's in the 1599 original, p. 256 (<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Etymologicum_teutonicae_linguae.html?id=bps8AAAAcAAJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Etymologicum_teutonicae_linguae.html?id%3Dbps8AAAAcAAJ&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHMlAentpyFl9HBw-p-VzAxCmRQbA\">Google Books<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur2.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On the Swedish side of things,\u00a0<i>kurre<\/i>\u00a0might be derived from\u00a0<i>kurra<\/i>\u00a0'grumble'.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur3.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" title=\"Click to embiggen\" src=\"http:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/~bgzimmer\/cur3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok, 1922 (via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/runeberg.org\/svetym\/0458.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/runeberg.org\/svetym\/0458.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEVcfMzN2cWUYlV6MmqJlogelobGA\">Project Runeberg<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>except for this old dialect dictionary that compares it to Finno-Ugric and Turkic words:<\/p>\n<p><i>Svenskt dialektlexikon<\/i>, 1862-1867 (also via\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/runeberg.org\/dialektl\/0396.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/runeberg.org\/dialektl\/0396.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNF_crppCznNgDJBPgf7zSTUmSRgHg\">Project Runeberg<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>The verb\u00a0<i>kurra<\/i>\u00a0'grumble' is well attested in Old Norse (refs in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/lexicon.ff.cuni.cz\/html\/oi_cleasbyvigfusson\/b0359.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?hl=en&amp;q=http:\/\/lexicon.ff.cuni.cz\/html\/oi_cleasbyvigfusson\/b0359.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1520559253421000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGvqyTgHZsrFD_KldHgXwN1USAw4Q\">Cleasby &amp; Vigfusson<\/a>\u00a0(i.e. Gu\u00f0brandur Vigf\u00fasson)). No idea where it comes from, maybe imitative of 'grumbling'.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe the mysterious Skt.\u00a0<i>kukkura<\/i>\u00a0(with modern reflexes) is also imitative? Or non-IE? So many questions!<\/p>\n<p>[Thanks to Jim Mallory, Chris Button, Matt Anderson, Don Ringe, Paul Midler, Ben Zimmer, Jonathan Smith, Axel Schuessler, and Chau Wu]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the conclusion of \"Barking roosters and crowing dogs\" (2\/18\/18), I promised a more philologically oriented post to celebrate the advent of the lunar year of the dog.\u00a0 This is it.\u00a0 Concurrently, it is part of this long running series on Old Sinitic and Indo-European comparative reconstructions: \u201cOf precious swords and Old Sinitic reconstructions\u201d (3\/8\/16) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,291,297,223,278,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borrowing","category-historical-linguistics","category-language-and-archeology","category-language-and-biology","category-lexicon-and-lexicography","category-writing-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36996"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37137,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36996\/revisions\/37137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}