Grice gives the example of the sheepdog as one of 'metaphysical
transubstantiation' -- a "rather complex" concept, "I admit".
It's best to apply it to the old English sheepdog.
Chomsky once studied the syntax of the phrase:
i. (Old English) sheep dog
ii. Old + English (sheep dog).
iii. Jack's Old English sheepdog is a puppy.
Chomsky assumes that 'old' applies to "the breed", not to a special
specimen of the 'breed' ("It's like when we say "merrie Olde Englande," only
different.") (He taught in New Englande for years).
Most Old English sheepdog fanciers (including five of the wealthiest
American families) agree that it's the bearded collie which should be counted
among the original stock used in developing the breed of the Old English
sheepdog.
In a message dated 3/20/2016 8:12:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
profdritchie@xxxxxxxxx writes: "My father calls sheep dogs "collies" and
doesn’t
bother with "border" or “English Shepherd" or other distinctions."
Indeed, Grice them call them all 'dogs' ("Senses [of 'dog'] should not be
multiplied beyond necessity").
The border collie is said to be descended from the "landrace collie".
The name for the breed came from its place of origin along the
Anglo-Scottish border.
Geary's theory that it refers to the Spanish-French border is now widely
dismissed (as he admits, "I myself dismiss the idea that the Pyrenees are
crossable, even by a dog.")
Mention of the "collie" (or "colley" as it is sometimes mispelt) type
first appeared toward the end of the 19th century.
The word "collie", of course, is older than this and has its origin in the
Scots language -- which is NOT a dialect of English!
It is also thought that the word 'collie' comes from an old Celtic word,
'koly', which means "useful". This is Grice's argument for 'metaphysical
transubstantiation': the usefulness of the sheepdog turns the sheepdog into a
'new' entity.
Many of the best border collies today can be traced back to a dog known
as old Hemp.
In 1915, James Reid, Secretary of the International Sheep Dog Society first
used the term "border collie" to distinguish those dogs registered by his
Socieety from The Kennel Club's Collie (also known as the Scotch Collie,
including "The Rough Collie" and "The Smooth Collie") which originally came
from the same working stock, but, Reid noted, had developed a different,
standardised appearance following introduction to the show ring in 1860 and
mixture with different types breeds.
Reid notes that if 'koly' is not the origin of "collie", it could well be
'coal', the mineral. In dialecdtal English, "coaly" is used to mean
"coal-black," the colour of SOME collie breeds.
"What we may have here," Reid explains, "is a case of inductive
generalisation: from some collies being coal-black, the populace started to
call ALL
collies thus", he implicates confusing Grice and others.
Reid, who does not buy the old Celtic "koly" theory, compares "collie"
with "colley", used to denote a sheep with black face and legs.
As Reid notes, there's also the "colfox", "which I prefer to spell
"coal-fox,"", a variety of fox with tail and both ears tipped with black.
"Friends tell me," Reid adds, "that "colley" is a Somerset dialectal name
for the "blackbird", a black bird."
In 1923, Greta Ekberg suggested that the origin is the Viking or
Scandinavian proper name "Colle". As Ms. Ekberg notes, "it is known from
literary
records that "Colle" was applied to dogs in Middle English". "My husband
taught me a nursery rhyme about Colle, and then there's Chaucer."
Ekberg refers to Chaucer's verse:
"Ran Colle our dogge, and Talbot, and Gerlond"."
"But this," Ekberg adds, as if a Popperian, "does not falsify the idea that
Talbot and Gerlond never gained such diffusion so as to have the common
folk to confuse a proper name with a common name, which a proper zoologist
shouldn't!".
Cheers,
Speranza
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