De Canibus Britannicis: Of Englishe DoggesCaius, John
Science
De Canibus Britannicis: Of Englishe Dogges
Caius, John
Dogs -- Early works to 1800
Of dogges vnder the courser kinde, wee will deale first with the
shepherds dogge, whom we call the Bandogge, the Tydogge, or the
Mastyue, the first name is imputed to him for seruice _Quoniam
pastori famulatur_, because he is at the shepherds his masters
commaundement. The seconde a _Ligamento_ of the band or chaine
wherewith he is tyed, The thirde a _Sagina_, Of the fatnesse of his
body.
Est enim crassum genus canum, & bene saginatum catenarium hoc. Etsi
non sum nescius Augustinum Niphum, Mastinum (mastivum nostri dicunt)
pecuarium existimare: & Albertum Lyciscum ex cane & lupo genitum
esse scribere: quamvis idem pro Molosso magna ex parte vertat.
For this kinde of dogge which is vsually tyed, is myghty, grosse,
and fat fed. I know this that _Augustinus Niphus_, calleth this
_Mastinus_ (which we call Mastiuus.) And that _Albertus_ writeth how
the _Lyciscus_ is ingendred by a beare and a wolfe. Notwithstanding
the self same Author taketh it for the most part _pro Molosso_.
A dogge of such a countrey.
The names of such dogges as be contained in the fifte Section.
[Versator.] Ad postremum, degeneres Wappe & Turnespete nominari
dicebamus: hunc a verbo nostrati turne, quòd est verto & spete, seu
spede ad imitationem Italorum, quod veru dicitur; illum a naturali
canis voce Wau, quam in latratu edit admonendo.
Of mungrels and rascalls somwhat is to be spoken. And among these,
of y^e _VVappe_ or _Turnespet_, which name is made of two simple
words, that is, of _Turne_, which in latine soundeth _Vertere_,
and of _spete_ which is _Veru_, or _spede_, for the Englishe word
inclineth closer to the Italian imitation: _Veruuersator_, Turnspet.
Unde, originaliter Waupe dicendum fuit. Sed euphoniæ bonæque
consonantiæ gratia, vocali in consonantem mutata, Wappe a nostris
vocitatur. Etsi non me fugit Nonium, a voce naturali Bau, formare
suum baubari, non a Wau, quemadmodum & Græci à suo βαύζειν.
He is called also VVaupe, of the naturall noise of his voyce _VV_au,
which he maketh in barcking. But for the better and the redyer
sounde, the vowell, u, is chaunged into the cõsonant, p, so y^t for
waupe we say wappe. And yet I wot well that _Nonius_ boroweth his
_Baubari_ of the natural voyce _Bau_, as the _Græcians_ doe their
βάυζειν of wau.
[Saltator.] Jam verò quod dansare nostris, saltare sit Latinis, si
didiceris, non est de canis saltatoris nostrati nomine amplius quod
ipse expetas.
Now when you vnderstand this that _Saltare_ in latine signifieth
_Dansare_ in Englishe. And that our dogge therevpon is called a
daunser and in the latine _Saltator_, you are so farre taught as you
were desirous to learne, And now suppose I, there remaineth nothing,
but that your request is fully accomplished.
The winding vp of this worke, called the Supplement, &c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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