Man's best friend
 | This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations. (December 2019) |
"Man's best friend[1]" is a common title given to domestic dogs, referring to their multi-millennia-long history of close relations, loyalty, friendship, and companionship with humans. The first recorded use of a related phrase is by Frederick the Great of Prussia. It was likely popularized by its use in a poem by Ogden Nash[2] and has since become a common colloquialism.
Before the 19th century, breeds of dogs (other than lap dogs) were largely functional. They performed activities such as hunting, tracking, watching, protecting and guarding; and language describing the dog often reflected these roles. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "dogs are rarely depicted as faithful or as man's best friend, but as vicious, ravening, or watchful." Beginning in the 18th century, multiplying in the 19th and flo mourishing in the 20th century, language and attitudes towards dogs began to shift.[3]
Argos and Odysseus
[edit]In Homer's Odyssey (c. 8th century BC), upon Odysseus' return, his beloved dog Argos is the only individual to recognize him.
This hound," answered Eumaeus, "belonged to him who has died in a far country. If he were what he was when Ulysses left for Troy, he would soon show you what he could do. There was not a wild beast in the forest that could get away from him when he was once on its tracks. But now he has fallen on evil times, for his master is dead and gone, and the women take no care of him. Servants never do their work when their master's hand is no longer over them, for Jove takes half the goodness out of a man when he makes a slave of him."
Sources
[edit]King Frederick II of Prussia
[edit]A statement describing a dog as being a man's best friend was first recorded as being made by Frederick II, King of Prussia (1740–1786). Frederick referred to Biche, one of his Italian Greyhounds, as his best friend.[5]
C.S. van Winkle
[edit]The earliest citation in the U.S. is traced to a poem by C.S. Winkle printed in The New-York Literary Journal, Volume 4, 1821:[6]
- The faithful dog – why should I strive
- To speak his merits, while they live
- In every breast, and man's best friend
- Does often at his heels attend.[7]
George Graham Vest
[edit]In 1870 Warrensburg, Missouri, George Graham Vest represented a farmer suing for damages after his dog, Old Drum, had been shot and killed. During the trial, Vest stated that he would "win the case or apologize to every dog in Missouri."[8]
Vest's closing argument to the jury made no reference to any of the testimony offered during the trial, and instead offered a eulogy of sorts. Vest's "Eulogy of the Dog"[9] is one of the most enduring passages of purple prose in American courtroom history (only a partial transcript has survived)[8]:
Vest's closing argument to the jury:
If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.
Vest won the case (the jury awarded $50 to the dog's owner) and also won its appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.
In 1958, a statue of Old Drum was erected on the Johnson County Courthouse lawn containing a summation of Vest's closing speech, "A man's best friend is his dog."[10][11]
As well, a bust of the dog resides in the Missouri Supreme Court building in Jefferson City, Missouri.
Voltaire
[edit]Much earlier, however, Voltaire had written in his Dictionnaire philosophique of 1764:
- CHIEN. — Il semble que la nature ait donné le chien à l'homme pour sa défense et pour son plaisir. C'est de tous les animaux le plus fidèle : c'est le meilleur ami que puisse avoir l'homme.[12]
Translated, this reads:
- DOG. — It seems that nature has given the dog to man for his defense and for his pleasure. Of all the animals it is the most faithful: it is the best friend man can possibly have.
Ogden Nash
[edit]In 1941, Ogden Nash wrote "An Introduction to Dogs," beginning:
- The dog is man's best friend.
- He has a tail on one end.
- Up in front he has teeth.
- And four legs underneath.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Pawderosa (2021-06-08). "The History of Man's Best Friend | Pawderosa Ranch". Retrieved 2024-10-31.
- ^ "Poem: Introduction to Dogs, An by Ogden Nash". www.poetrynook.com. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
- ^ Paton, Bernadette (2013). "The dog: man's best friend?(The use of man's best friend has usually been about dogs. They are hard working and reliable mammals)". www.oed.com. Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved July 5, 2013.
- ^ "The Odyssey of Homer: Book XVII". Sacred-texts.com. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
- ^ Laveaux, C.J.; King of Prussia, F (1789). The life of Frederick the Second, King of Prussia: To which are added observations, Authentic Documents, and a Variety of Anecdotes. J. Derbett London. p. 521.
- ^ Martin, Gary. "Man's Best Friend." The Phrase Finder. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 July 2013. <http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/mans-best-friend.html>.
- ^ The New-York Literary Journal, and Belles-lettres Repository. C.S. Van Winkle. 1821.
- ^ a b "Old Drum | Warrensburg, MO". www.warrensburg-mo.com. Retrieved 2024-10-31.
- ^ "Eulogy of the Dog" (PDF). www.sos.mo.gov. Missouri Secretary of State's Office. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
- ^ Coren, Stanley (2009-10-21). ""A Man's Best Friend is his Dog": The Senator, the Dog, and the Trial". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
- ^ The Trial of Old Drum – New York Times Television Review – June 9, 2000
- ^ Oeuvres complètes, tome 7ième, Paris 1817, p. 587 books.google