THE MODERN GREYHOUND. 11 



the discussion possesses few attractions for the general reader, 

 the ingenious guessing and nice hair-splitting proving often 

 more confusing than profitable. Not to pass the subject 

 over in complete silence, I may observe, that whilst some 

 contend that the name Canis Grcecus points to a Greek 

 origin, others derive the name from "grey," gre, or grie, 

 supposed to be originally the prevailing colours, others, 

 with apparently greater reason, suppose the name to have 

 been given on account of the high rank or degree the 

 dog held among his fellows. The latter is the meaning 

 attached to it by Caius, who says : " The Grehound hath 

 his name of this word gre, which word soundeth gradus in 

 Latine, in Englishe degree, because, among all dogges 

 these are the most principall, occupying the chiefest place, 

 and being simply and absolutely the best of the gentle 

 kinde of Houndes." Dansey, the translator of Arrian, thinks 

 this fanciful, but at the same time points out that the word 

 gre is used for degree by Gawin Douglas, Thomas the 

 Ehymer the Prophet of Ercildoun, the author of the metri- 

 cal romance "Morte Arthur/' and by Sir David Lindsay 

 in his satirical poem, "The Complaint of the King's Auld 

 Hound, Bagsche," when addressing the King's new favou- 

 rite Houndes: "Though ye stand in the highest gre"; 

 and he (Dansey) acknowledges: "Whimsical, therefore, as 

 Caius's tracing of the term may be, we cannot view it 

 as utterly untenable." 



In addition to this, I may point out that the word, 

 bearing the same signification, is to be found in Burns 

 and Scott, and that there is a common Scotch phrase 

 "to bear the gree," meaning to be decidedly victor, or 

 to take precedence of others. 



