Why are the teeth caressing my incisors called “canines” instead of felines, when felines have them too? Maybe had them first? Who knows?
They’re just as sharp, if not sharper…they do the same job…
I’m a dog person and all, and am quite thankful the dogs won this one…but I was just having an absurd conversation about this recently and, as usual, am just curious.
Just 'cause. People saw the similarity between them and those of dogs. Has more impact than ‘feline teeth’, at least…
In this link:
what does 1398 mean, a date?
If so were cats domesticated then or still thought of as evil and, er, causes of the Black Plauge?
If true then people would rather identify with dogs than cats. Ask any movie director.
And why are they called “eyeteeth” when I can’t see with 'em?
The eyeteeth are those teeth that are directly under the eye
Besides that dogs were domesticated, and accepted as pets, before cats, The cat’s shortened skull, which accentuates eyesight rather than the sense of smell, provides only limited space for teeth and that dogs are larger so canines are more pronounced than felines.
This is true but you’re talking thousands of years, long before English. Cats were a common domesticated pet in ancient Egypt but were household pets much earlier.
Dog burials are attested to 5000 years earlier.
Wherever the term “canines” came from in naming teeth it has nothing to do with whether dogs and cats were domesticated pets at the time.
Okay, I don’t agree but that is neither here nor there. From where do you suggest the term ‘Canine’ instead of ‘Feline’ came from?
I was postulating that the term ‘Canine’ came about because dogs were more familiar to humans than cats. If you have an alternate theory then by all means post it. Really! If there is anyone ready to throw out the baby with the bath water, it is I.
ignis_glaciesque got it. Just 'cause. You can invent reasons for naming after the fact, but none can be substantiated.