R, which was trilled in Latin, imitating the sound of a snarling dog.' name='description'> dog's letter - definition and meaning

Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the letter R, which was trilled in Latin, imitating the sound of a snarling dog.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the Latin littera canina meaning "letter pertaining to a dog", "a dog's letter" or "a canine letter".

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Examples

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Comments

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  • the letter 'R'.

    "There is only the difference of the dog's letter between friend and fiend."

    The Westminster Review (London, UK); 1830.

    from the A Word a Day site.

    December 13, 2008

  • Isn't it the pirate letter?

    December 13, 2008

  • No, P is the pirate letter - it's their favourite.

    Why?

    It's like R - but it's only got one leg.

    December 13, 2008

  • I'd have thought Q was the dog's letter, wagging its tail and all. What makes R canine?

    December 13, 2008

  • Sarra, ha! But as we all know around Wordie, P is the pterodactyl's letter.

    December 13, 2008

  • And don't you forget it! I'm entitled to a 3-cent royalty anytime any of you use My Letter, and some of you are wayyyyyy behind on your payments!

    December 13, 2008

  • (Note: To demonstrate that he is not unkind, and to maintain the honor of the pterosaurs, Pterodactyl would like to announce that the mandatory 3-cent royalties will be waived for any applicant who can provide a rigorous example of silly poetry.)

    December 13, 2008

  • A young pterodactyl named Pterry

    Was in lust with a colleague called Merry

    He said "she's so glamorous,

    I just gets all amorous".

    Pterry ptargeted young Merry's cherry.

    December 13, 2008

  • Noodling here and shnooping there

    I did come to know and cherish the legendary Wordie, pterodactyl.

    Yet he brazenly demanded P-recompense in verse! Young man, tact'll

    Get you everywhere.

    December 13, 2008

  • pterodactyl, if you want royalties just go to p and tag it ©.

    December 13, 2008

  • Hello:

    My name is s©i©o©n©n©a©c©h©.

    December 13, 2008

  • I have evaluated the samples offered by bilby and sionnach and found that they are indeed very rigorous. They are also aesthetic, cogent, cromulent, and (in sionnach's case) practically libelous. ;)

    In light of this, I declare that any royalties they may owe shall be waived in perpetuity.

    As for the rest of you...

    December 14, 2008

  • I'm not sure whether this will answer rrrrrolig's question, but the Century Dictionary does have this to say over on r:

    "In Anglo-Saxon the initial r of many words was aspirated (that is, pronounced with an h before it), as hring (our ring); but the aspiration was long ago abandoned, both in pronunciation and in spelling. In Greek initial r was always thus aspirated, and the combination was transliterated in Latin by rh instead of hr: hence the frequency of rh in our words of Greek derivation. Moreover, such an r, when by inflection or composition made medial, became rrh, and double r was in general viewed as rrh: whence that spelling in many of our words (for example, diarrhea, hemorrhage, catarrh, etc.): in recent scientific words and names taken from Greek, the Greek rule and Latin practice as regards the doubling and aspiration of the r are often neglected. The mode of production of the r-sound itself varies greatly in different languages and dialects. Normally its utterance is combined with a distinct trilling or vibration of the tip of the tongue, in various degrees (the sound is thence often called the “dog's letter,” littera canina)."

    January 31, 2011

  • *makes payment to pterrrrrrodactyl*

    January 31, 2011