Trivia: Greyhound, the Biblical Dog

1. Sean
   March 31st, 2008 at 5:06 am

   Uh, a lion is cat....

2. gail
   March 31st, 2008 at 7:13 am

   The "greyhound" translation is an artifact of the time and place the Kin James Version was put together (sixteenth century England). Most other translations give "a strutting rooster." The translators probably didn't like the idea of comparing a king with a rooster (seeing as how they were in the pay of King James I)

3. Houndle
   March 31st, 2008 at 8:41 am

   Make a Fast Friend...Adopt a Greyhound!

4. Grant Muller
   March 31st, 2008 at 9:00 am

   I wonder if greyhound is a modern word translated for King James Version. At the time that the Proverbs were said to be written I think the Saluki would have been the breed of choice, from which the greyhound is descended. I could be wrong though...

5. Greyhound Mom
   March 31st, 2008 at 9:24 am

   Yeah for greyhounds! The sweetest, gentlest, goofiest couch potatoes you'll ever meet! 30,000 of these racers are put to death after their owners feel they are no longer useful (i.e., "winning")... thank goodness for greyhound rescue groups!

6. Sammy
   March 31st, 2008 at 10:03 am

   Greyhound racing?! That's the silliest thing I ever heard of. I mean HORSE racing is bad enough, but Greyhound racing? Come on, quit pulling my leg. I mean how small would the jockeys have to be to sit on a Greyhound? Imagine the tiny saddles. Get real.

7. Bruno
   March 31st, 2008 at 10:04 am

   Sammy;

   With real Greyhound racing the first thing they do is get these buses.....

8. thadd
   March 31st, 2008 at 11:25 am

   The above posters are right, it would not have been greyhound in the original text. Generally speaking the only dog breed of the period for comparison would have been the saluki. Though these would not have been exceptionally common. Most individuals would have been familiar with the common pariah dogs.

9. AnUnSi
   March 31st, 2008 at 1:48 pm

   Biblical references to lions are irrelevant to this thread, Sean. The original post intended to say that common housecats are not mentioned in the Bible.

   The reason for this (I believe) is that the pagan Egyptians of the biblical era (stupidly) regarded cats as sacred. I think that they even had a cat god or goddess. God's "chosen people" -- the Hebrews/Jews, and the "new Israel" (the Church that Jesus founded) -- wisely avoided speaking positively of things Egyptian. Egypt was the land of slavery, idolatry, and sin.

10. Christophe
    March 31st, 2008 at 2:41 pm

    French translation gives a horse. In fact the original text mentions something like "animal with solidly built small of the back" without giving an actual name of an animal. The feel of speed can be understood as well. Translators thought it could be a horse, or a greyhound. Since dogs are not spoken in good terms, except sheperd dogs, I guess the French translators chose a horse.

    And they're right : horses are faster...
    ...or are they?
    http://www.williamhillgreyhoundderby.com/pixpage.htm

11. ted
    March 31st, 2008 at 5:18 pm

    Maybe it was a dinosaur.

12. Thomas
    April 1st, 2008 at 1:37 am

    Or bigfoot.

13. luke
    April 1st, 2008 at 8:18 am

    weird translation if you ask me

14. `annie
    April 4th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    In the Middle Ages there was a Saints' Cult devoted to a greyhound - based on that urban myth about a dog killing a snake, the master thinking the snake's blood is his child's and killing the dog, then feeling bad when he realise the dog saved the child instead of hurting it.

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