dhole (wild dog in India): antedatings (?) and etymology(?)

[Stephen Goranson]

dhole OED 1827 "Origin unknown"

First, a not very interesting apparent antedating; then a perhaps more
promising
one.

1813 Journal of a residence in India By Maria (Callcott? or google
error) Graham
(on titlepage)(2nd ed Edinburgh) p.141:

Nor dhole nor vin have magic to remove
The hapless torment of rejected love.

A book review (of unknown date) in Monthly Review (1749- R. Griffiths)
mentions
the dhole and it quotes (as do web pages) Captian Thomas Williamson, Oriental
Field Sports (London, 1807 and reprintings) on the dhole. For a long quotation
see:
http://www.dogbits.org/dhole.htm
Back to the g-bk review of a book that quotes Williamson:

"In the Ramghor hills exist [....] Captain Williamson gives some account of
them, calling them Dholes, a name by which I have heard them called, but more
frequently by the name Quihoes; they are extremely shy, and seldom
approach any
villages [....]"

Then (how reliably I do not know), in
1856 The natural history of dogs, including also the genera hyaena and
proteles:
Vol. 1, with memoir... By Charles Hamilton Smith p.  179:

THE TRUE DHOLE
Chryseus scylax, Smith
Plate VII
The Dhole of Capt. Williamson and Quihoe of Dr. Daniel Johnson

The names here brought into juxta-position, show how much confusion
there exists
in designating the animals already described and the present species among the
natives of India; a confusion they extend to hyaenas and wolves. Qyo, Quihoe,
and Qao appear to signify imitations of the animal's voice when hunting; Dhole
a Praerit name; [....]

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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