Ety: "dogie"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>I once very tentatively endorsed the possibility that Western "dogie" had
>an African etymon.  Now I'm assured that it comes from Spanish "dogal,"
>meaning a halter for an animal.

Assured by whom? I am assured by the respected AHD (inter alia) that "mutt"
< "muttonhead". Do I believe it? Not without a good paper trail.

Isn't "doughguts" at least a reasonable guess for the etymon of "dogie"? In
the newspapers from 1897 I see a description of the orphaned dogy and how
pudgy it gets from eating grass instead of milk (protein deficiency?).

I don't know about the African possibility.

"Dogal" means "halter" or so in Spanish all right, and it's been around for
a long time. But why should it be a good candidate etymon? Why not English
"doggy" instead, for example? If it is asserted that the dogies were
characteristically led on leashes or something like that (I would believe
this sort of story only with documentation), maybe we could take that to
support the "doggy" etymology as well as the "dogal" one ... or if you like
Spanish, consider Spanish "dogo", = "bulldog" or so. (I am not seriously
suggesting these notions.)

-- Doug Wilson