Dogs in Russian literature

[Steve Marder]

> Dear colleagues:
> 
> In Boris Unbegaun's linguistics book, "Russian Surnames"
> (Oxford Univ. Press, 1972),   the author discusses names
> of fictional characters invented by Russian writer Saltykov-
> Shchedrin, including humorous hyphenated names of such
> characters.
> 
> E.g., "Serpukhovskii-Dogoniai" ("Serpuxovskij-Dogonjaj"), and
> a similar example suffixed with "...-Doezzhai."  According to
> Unbegaun, Saltykov borrowed the elements "Dogoniai" and
> "Doezzhai" from commands spoken to dogs.
> 
> Does anyone out there know the English equivalents of these
> "canine commands"?   Could they be analogous to the English
> "Fetch!" (i.e., go chase a thrown stick/ball and bring it back)?
> Or English "Sic 'im!" (i.e., go threaten and try to attack/bite
> an enemy)?
> 
> Or some other English equivalent of these canine commands...?

> Gratefully,
> Steven P Hill,
> University of Illinois (USA).

Perhaps not exactly what you want, but here's a thread:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=447014

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