History
Dogs resembling the Great Dane have been seen on Egyptian monuments dating back to 3,000 BC. According to Barbara Stein, "The breed originated in Germany, probably from a cross between the English mastiff and the Irish Wolfhound." However, other sources maintain that the breed originated in Denmark and still others report the question as controversial and unsettled. In 1749 Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon used the name "le Grand Danois," (translated by William Smellie as "Great Dane"). Up until that time the hound was referred to in England as "Danish dog." According to Jacob Nicolay Wilse the Danes called the dog "large hound," a terminology continued well in to the 20th century. As late as in the 1780 Germany the hound is referred to as "Grosser Dänischer Jagdhund" (English: Large Danish Hunting Hound). At the first dog exhibition, held in Hamburg 14–20 July 1863, eight dogs were called "Dänische Dogge" and seven "Ulmer Doggen."
Read more about this topic: Great Dane
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Culture, the acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few facts of importance are added in a century to the natural history of any animal. The natural history of man himself is still being gradually written.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every literary critic believes he will outwit history and have the last word.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)