“Dog” Mysteries
We don’t know for sure where the word "dog" comes from. There are theories, but nothing certain.
Some say it comes from the Old English word docga - which we also don’t know its origin. What we know is that, before the 13th century, dogs were called "hounds".
Also curious that the word "dog" doesn’t have relatives in other languages. It's unique to English. What a lexical mystery!
Other interesting things about dogs.
- The oldest remains of one domesticated: Bonn-Oberkassel Dog. Found in Germany; age ~14,200 years old. Discovered in a double grave alongside a man and a woman.
- The oldest named dog: Abuwtiyuw (c. 2280 BCE). The name is in a funeral inscription named the Stele of Abuwtiyuw. This dog lived during the 6th Dynasty of Egypt. Many believe it's an onomatopoeic name similar to naming a dog "Barky" - another theory points to "With Pointed Ears" because the dog was a Tesem. The inscription says:
The dog which was the guard of His Majesty, Abuwtiyuw is his name. His Majesty ordered that he be buried ceremonially, that he be given a coffin from the royal treasury, fine linen in great quantity, and incense... that he might be honored before the great god, Anubis.
- One of the most famous "pet poetry" from the ancient world comes from a sepulchral epigram from ~300 BCE published in the Greek Anthology that was found carved on an actual stone near Florence, Italy - for archaeologists: Kaibel 627. It reads:
Thou who passest on the path, if haply thou dost mark this monument, laugh not, I pray thee, though it is a dog's grave; tears fell for me, and the dust was heaped above me by a master's hands, who likewise engraved these words on my tomb.
In the ancient world, burying a person with a stone monument (stele) was an expensive honor usually reserved for heroes, wealthy citizens, or family members. This is the why of the text "laugh not, I pray thee, though it is a dog's grave" - I beg you, do not laugh that this is a dog's grave.
A few curious things about our best friends.