Maltese Dog (1838)

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Mon, Oct 28, 2002 at 01:46:02PM -0500, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> DESCRIPTION OF MALTA AND GOZO
> by George Percy Badger
> Malta: Printing and Lithography by M. Weiss
> 1838
>
> Pg. 59:
>    The race of Maltese dogs, so much renowned in Europe, and called _bichons_ by Buffon in his Natural History, is now nearly extinct.  They are very small, with long glistening hair reaching down to the feet, a face covered with the same, and a turned-up nose.  I acknowledge that I can see but very little beauty in these dwarfish creatures, and am led to think it is only their rarity which fixes their value at so high a price; they are sometimes sold for forty dollars.
>
> (The revised OED has 1860.  I was asked about this in Malta...WHERE ARE TEN OF MY BOOKS!  IT'S BEEN FOUR HOURS!  I DIDN'T MAKE THIS TRIP JUST FOR MALTESE DOGS AND ESPRESSO!--ed.)

Actually, that's not accurate. The revised OED has 1860 for _Maltese_ meaning
'a dog of the Maltese breed'. For the compound _Maltese dog_ itself, which is
what you're quoting above, OED3 has 1754.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED