Mutt

[Baker, John]

I think it's well-established that the beliefs of early knowledgeable users of a new term are valuable evidence, although of course they may be wrong.

It's probably more relevant that this shows that "mutt" was established usage by trainers of setters and pointers.  I suspect this undercuts the suggested derivation from "mutton dog," although I would certainly be open to further insights on this.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilson Gray
Sent: Monday, August 13, 2012 5:22 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Mutt

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 4:11 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> quoted:
> This word is _probably_ a corruption of mutton or muttonhead

and wrote:

> it ... provides early support for the derivation from "muttonhead."

How does "probably" provide any kind of support?
--
-Wilson

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