From: andrew_and_inge
Message: 36428
Date: 2005-02-21
> On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 03:14:33 +0000, "William H."What is the etymology of dog?
> <hittite1221@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >i think this was addressed before, but i will bring it up again. i
> >am curious to know where the spanish word perro originated. it
> >appears not to have arrived from latin "caninus" or
> >nahuatl "chichi". could it be from a prehispanic language of the
> >iberian peninsula such a lusitanian, aquitanian, or iberian?
>
> Certainly not from the last two, which didn't have p-.
>
> The word probaaly comes from "prrr", or "brrr", the
> traditional command given to sheepdogs to assemble the
> flock. Cf. Catalan <gos> "dog", from a similar calling cry
> ("k(u)sss, "gusss"). The original words, Sp. <can>, Cat.
> <ca> were displaced by the neologisms, as in English <hound>
> vs. <dog>.
>