June theme: Domestic Animals 🐕

Introduction

I get a little speculative here, if not downright provocative. There are words for dog all over Eurasia that recall each other. These could be onomatopoeic, but they do not much resemble the common forms you find in words that actually used as dog sound onomatopoeia. On the other hand, domestic animal words often go a-Wanderworting around the time of the domestication of the animal (compare the *mar type words for horse), and so "dog", as the very first domestic animal (Upper Paleolithic as opposed to Neolithic like most others) is exactly the word you'd expect to have been borrowed widely several thousand years beyond the horizon of confident reconstruction. But, ipso facto, we can't be confident of that.

I left out a whole part (as a step too far) where I tentatively reconstruct an Uto-Aztecan root for dog (and "coyote") to the same approximate shape so this is the conservative form of this provocation!

Teaser

dog, Conan, cynic, canine, canary, hound, Shiba Inu

Full Text

• Unknown possible origin

  • Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ dog Voc: *ḱwón, Acc: *ḱwónm̥, Gen: *ḱunés

    • Anatolian

      • Hittite *ku-wa

        • Hittite 𒆪𒉿𒀸 ku-wa-aš dog handler, hound-man
    • Old Armenian շուն šun dog

      • Armenian շուն šun dog
      • Old Armenian շնիկ šnik little dog, doggy, Canis Minor dimunitive

        • Armenian շնիկ šnik little dog, doggy
    • Balto-Slavic *śwō dog

      • Lithuanian šuõ dog
      • Slavic

        • Slavic *sǫka female dog

          • East Slavic сꙋка suka female dog

            • Russian су́ка súka female dog
          • South Slavic

            • Old Church Slavonic сѫка sǫka
            • Serbo-Croatian сука suka
          • West Slavic

            • Polish suka female dog
          • Hungarian szuka female dog, female fox
    • Celtic *kū dog, hound Gen: *kunos

      • Brythonic *ki dog

        • Welsh ci dog

          • Welsh corgi corgi lit. "stunted dog, dwarf dog"

            • English corgi
        • Brythonic **duβki black dog

          • Old English docga a kind of large, strong dog ^[1]

            • English dog ^[1]
      • Gaulish cuna
      • Old Irish cú dog, hound, wolf

        • Irish cú dog, hound, champion
        • Old Irish cúan little dog, puppies, litter, pack, band

          • Irish cuain litter, brood, pack, band, company
          • Irish Cúan
        • Old Irish conan little hound from stem

          • Irish Conan

            • English Conan
        • Old Irish Conall

          • Irish Conall

            • English Conal(l)
        • Old Irish Conchobur Hound-Desiring personal name

          • Irish Conchobhar
          • Irish Conchúr

            • English Connor
          • Old Irish Ó Conchobur descendant of Conchobur

            • Irish Ó Conchúir

              • English O'Connor
        • Old Irish Cúcheanann Fair-Head-Hound personal name

          • Irish Ó Con Cheanainn descendant of Cúcheanann note: in becoming genitive, Cú is declined to Con seperate from cheanann declining to Cheanainn

            • English Concannon
        • Old Irish Cú Chulainn Culann's Hound nickname

          • English Cuchulain
      • Celtic *dubrokū otter lit. "water-dog"

        • Brythonic *düβrgi

          • Welsh dyfrgi otter
        • Old Irish doburchú otter

          • Irish dobharchú otter
      • Celtic *Kunokwennos Hound-Head, Champion-Leader? personal name

        • Gaulish *Cunopennos

          • Latin Cunopennus
        • Primitive Irish ᚉᚒᚅᚐᚉᚓᚅᚅᚔ Cunacenni

          • Old Irish Concenn

            • Welsh Cyngen
      • Celtic *Kunobelenos Hound (Champion) of Belenos?, Hound-Strong? personal name

        • Brythonic *Cunobelinos

          • Welsh Cynfelyn
          • Latin Cunobelinus
          • Medieval Latin Kimbelinus

            • English Cymbeline
    • Hellenic

      • Mycenaean Greek 𐀓𐀙 ku-na-
      • Ancient Greek κῠ́ων kúōn dog

        • Tsakonian κούε koúe dog
        • Ancient Greek κυνικός kunikós doglike

          • Ancient Greek Κυνικός Kunikos Cynic (philosopher)

            • Latin Cynicus Cynic

              • Western Romance

                • French cynique Cynic, cynic, cynical, canine

                  • English cynic
    • Indo-Iranian *ĉwā́

      • Indo-Aryan *śwā́

        • Dardic *šoā́

          • Kashmiri ہوٗن hūn dog
        • Sanskrit श्वा śvā dog, hound Voc: śvan, Acc: śvānam, Gen: śunaḥ

          • Pali 𑀲𑁄𑀡 soṇa dog

            • Thai โสณ sǒon hound
          • Hindi श्वान śvān dog, hound
      • Iranian *ćwā́ dog

        • Avestan 𐬯𐬞𐬁 spā dog
        • Northern Iranian

          • Saka

            • Khotani śve
        • Pashto سپی spay dog
        • Western Iranian

          • Northwestern Iranian

            • Kurdish se(g) dog
            • Medean σπάκα spā́kəʰ

              • Kermanic

                • Tari سبه seba
              • East Slavic

                • Russian соба́ка sobáka dog, hound

                  • Aleut sabaakax
            • Medean *spakaniH dog-leader

              • Old Armenian ասպականի aspakani hunter, huntsman (with dogs)

                • Old Armenian ասպականի aspakani pack of hunting dogs with -ani reanalysed as a collective
            • Parthian

              • Persian اسبه
          • Old Persian 𐏂𐎣 çaka

            • Persian سگ sag dog
    • Italic *kō dog Acc: *kwanem, Gen: *kunes

      • Latin canis

        • Vulgar Latin *cane

          • Sardinian cani
          • Eastern Romance

            • Romanian câine dog
          • Western Romance

            • French chien dog
            • Italian cane dog
        • Latin canīnus dog-like, canine

          • English canine

            • Malay kanin
          • French canin
          • Italian canino
          • Spanish canino
        • Latin canārius to do with dogs

          • Latin Insula Canaria Gran Canaria lit. Dog Island"

            • Latin Canariae Insulae Canary Islands the archipelago around Insula Canaria

              • Spanish Islas Canarias Canary Islands

                • English Canary Islands
                • Spanish canario a person or thing from the Canary Islands, a canary

                  • French canarie canary

                    • English canary
        • Latin canicula little dog, dogfish, Sirius (Dog Star) ^[2]

          • Western Romance

            • French chenille caterpillar, chenille, whirligig

              • English chenille
          • French canicule Sirius (Dog Star), dog days (of summer) ^[2]
          • Italian canicola dog days (of summer) ^[2]
          • Spanish canícula dog days (of summer) ^[2]
    • Tocharian *ku

      • Arshian ku dog
      • Kushean ku dog
    • Proto-Indo-European *ḱwont-

      • Old Armenian սկունդ skund dog, puppy
    • Proto-Indo-European *kuntós

      • Germanic *hundaz

        • East Germanic

          • Gothic 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳𐍃 hunds dog
        • North Germanic

          • Old Norse hundr dog

            • Danish hund dog
            • Icelandic hundur dog
            • Finnish hunttu
        • West Germanic

          • Old English hund dog

            • English hound
          • Frankish

            • Dutch hond dog
          • Old High German hunt dog

            • German Hund dog

              • German Dachshund dachshund

                • English dachshund
            • Yiddish הונט hunt dog
  • Unknown adstrate

    • Iranian *kútah

      • Northern Iranian

        • Bactrian κοδο kodo dog
        • Scythian

          • Ossetian куыдз k°yʒ dog
      • Western Iranian

        • Northwestern Iranian

          • Balochi کچک kucak dog
          • Kurdish kûçik dog
    • Prakrit *kutta dog

      • Magadhi

        • Bengali কুত্তা kutta dog
      • Maharashtri 𑀓𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀢 kutta

        • Marathi कुत्रा kutrā dog
      • Sauraseni 𑀓𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀢 kutta

        • Madhya

          • Hindi कुत्ता kuttā dog
        • Pahari

          • Punjabi ਕੁੱਤਾ kutā dog
    • Sanskrit कुक्कुर kukkura dog

      • Magadhi

        • Bengali কুকুর kukur dog
      • Sauraseni

        • Pahari

          • Nepali कुकुर kukura dog
  • Unknown adstrate **kul

    • Ancient Greek (s)kulla

      • Ancient Greek σκῠ́λᾰξ skúlax puppy

        • Greek σκυλί skylí dog
      • Ancient Greek σκύλῐον skúlion dogfish
    • Celtic *kulēnos puppy, whelp

      • Old Irish cuilén pup, cub, kitten

        • Irish coileán pup, cub, youth, trickster
    • Balto-Slavic

      • Lithuanian kalė̃ female dog
    • Afro-Asiatic *kul-ab dog ^[3]

      • Semitic *kalb dog

        • Central Semitic

          • Arabic كَلْب kalb dog

            • Maltese kelb dog
        • Northwest Semitic

          • Aramaic כַּלְבָּא kalbā
          • Canaanite

            • Hebrew כֶּלֶב keleḇ dog

              • Hebrew כָּלֵב Kaleb personal name

                • Ancient Greek Χαλεβ Khaleb

                  • English Caleb
            • Phoenician 𐤊𐤋𐤁 klb dog
          • Ugaritic 𐎋𐎍𐎁 klb
        • East Semitic

          • Akkadian 𒌨𒌆 kalbu dog
        • South Semitic

          • Ethiopic

            • Amharic ከልብ kälb dog
            • Tigrinya ከልቢ kälbi dog
          • Old South Arabian

            • Sabaean 𐩫𐩡𐩨 klb dog
  • Austronesian *(u-)(ŋ)kuɣ(kuɣ)

    • Paiwan kuku toy, pet
    • Puyuma kurkur puppy
    • Malayo-Polynesian *uŋkuʔ(kuʔ)

      • Malay kuyuk dog
      • Sundanese ᮌᮥᮌᮥᮊ᮪ guguk dog
      • Japonic *iŋku

        • Japanese いぬ inu dog

          • Japanese しばいぬ shibainu Shiba Inu lit. "brushwood dog"

            • English Shiba Inu
        • Okinawan いん in dog
    • Austroasiatic *cɔʔ dog

      • Khasic

        • Khasi ksew
      • Vietic *ʔa-cɔːʔ

        • Vietnamese chó dog
        • Khmer ច cɑɑ Year of the Dog
      • Old Chinese 狗 *koːʔ dog

        • Middle Chinese 狗 kəuX dog

          • Mandarin 狗 gǒu dog
          • Wu 狗 keu2 dog
          • Yue 狗 gau2 dog
        • Min

          • Hokkien 狗 káu dog
        • Korean 견 gyeon dog

          • Korean 견유 gyeonyu cynic lit. "dog-scholar"
        • Korean 구 gu dog
        • Vietnamese cẩu dog
        • Oghuz Turkic *köp-ek dog all branches of Turkish have *īt: "dog", but only Oghuz languages also have *köpek

          • Turkish köpek dog
    • Austroasiatic *cgəj dog

      • Vietic

        • Vietnamese cầy dog, civet
      • Khasic

        • Khasi skei muntjac, barking deer
      • Khmeric

        • Khmer ឆ្កែ chkae dog
      • Sino-Tibetan *(d)-kʷəɣ-(n) dog

        • Old Chinese 犬 *kʰʷeːnʔ ^[4]

          • Middle Chinese

            • Mandarin 犬 quǎn dog
            • Wu 犬 qyoe2 dog
            • Yue 犬 hyun2 dog
          • Min

            • Hokkien 犬 khián dog
          • Korean 개 gae dog
        • Tibeto-Burman

          • Burmese ခွေး hkwe: dog
          • Tibetan ཁྱི khyi dog
  • Northeast Caucasian

    • Avar гьой hoj dog
    • Dargwa хя χə dog
    • Lak ккаччи k̄ač̄i dog
    • Lezgi кицӏ kic̣ dog

Visual

Collected English words

corgi, dog, Conan, Conal(l), Connor, O'Connor, Concannon, Cuchulain, Cymbeline, cynic, canine, Canary Islands, canary, chenille, hound, dachshund, Caleb, Shiba Inu

Footnotes

1. ^

   English dog is ultimately unexplained, despite considerable effort over the years. We can trace it only as far as Old English docga, which is though to contain the suffix -ga also found in "frog" and "pig", suggesting the existence of a morpheme *doc?. It has been suggested this could be the same as the fingerdocce, which might mean "finger muscle", but definitely means "foxglove", so "finger-plant" could be the original meaning, compare "burdock", "common dock", Danish dokke. This "supposed muscle, powerful" word can also not be traced beyond Old English. So the "muscle dog" theory is highly tentative.

   Since the *doc? morpheme cannot be traced to any Germanic source predating the Old English arriving in Brittain, I think at least as likely that it is derived from a Brittanic dog breed name meaning "black dog", equivalent to Welsh du: "black" + ci: "dog". Compare Welsh corgi: "dwarf dog" and Gwyllgi: "Twilight Dog", a mythic creature pictured as a black mastiff (and Old English docga is probably a kind of mastiff).

2. ^

   The "dog days" of summer are the hot days in the summer between in July, August, and/or September, so-called because it coincides with the part of the year when the star Sirius rises at the same time as the Sun. Compare, Sirius from Σείρῐος: "scorching, destructive".

3. ^

   For the -ab suffix in Afro-asiatic <*kul-ab>, compare *ǯiʾ-b-: "wolf", *ʿaqr-ab: "scorpion", *θaʿl-ab: "fox", *dab-b: "bear". Argued by Diakonoff to be the best preserved part of a no longer productive nominal class system from Pre-Afro-Asiatic.

4. ^

   Chinese 犬 presumably represents an older word, now mostly replaced by 狗, with 犬 now appearing mostly in compounds. (Also, 狗 is a compound sign built on 犬.)