a guess on pooch=dog origin

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>This may be a red herring (or red harrier?), but Pucci is a popular
>dog's name in Italy -- a google search of 'pucci' and 'cane' turns up
>a number of hits ....

Here's another possible red herring ... but interesting in view of the 1941
'Hindustani' attribution.

The Hindi word commonly written "poonch" = "tail" is used in a few places
on the Web as a dog name. E.g.:

http://www.geocities.com/lizandshar/poonchsadvice.html

(dog-to-dog advice column by Poonch)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2000/20001223/windows/above.htm

(dog in India named Poonch = tail because it follows [its owner])

There is an aphorism about a dog's tail quoted on the Web with the spelling
"kutha ka poonch".

A Hindi-speaking acquaintance pronounces this "poonch" in a way which is
virtually indistinguishable from English "pooch" (to me).

[The word in devanagari is spelled /p/, /u/ ("long u"), /chh/ (aspirated
voiceless alv'pal.), with superscript nasal dot. (Pardon me, I'm not very
familiar with this script.)]

Relationship to "pooch" etymology? Maybe none. But then again ....

-- Doug Wilson