The Canary Isles ....going to the dogs.

The beautiful sandy beaches of the Canary Isles.

 I’m on vacation and so when choosing a topic for my weekend blog post, my thoughts turned to that popular holiday destination of the Canary Isles (OK, I know it’s a tenous link.) But, if like me, you assumed these Spanish islands, located off the north-west coast of mainland Africa, were named after small, brightly coloured birds – just like me, you’d be wrong.

'Canary Dogs.'

In the first century BC, the Romans sent an expedition, their findings reported back by Pliny the Elder:

“The island of Canaria [is] so-called from the multitude of dogs [canes] of great size.”

‘Canary’ dervies from the Latin for dog, ‘canis’, from which our word ‘canine’ is derived. There is also an association with a North African tribe called ‘the Canarii’, so called by Pliny because:

“They partake of their food in common with the canine race, and share with it the entrails of wild beasts."

The coat of arms of the Canary Islands, reflects it's origins.

Subsequent explorers sent by King Juba II of Mauritius, returned to present their paymaster with two of these giant dogs. Some accounts now speculate that these so-called-dogs were actually a species of Monk Seals (or ‘Sea-dog’ in Latin.) – now sadly critically endangered and no longer resident on the Canary Isles.

Monk Seals.

Canary birds do come from the Canary Islands, but it was a case of cart before horse, as explained Virginia Sliverstein in her book, ‘Beautiful Birds’ –

“Canaries were named after the Canary Islands, and not the other way round.”

So there we have it, some not-too-taxing holiday trivia. Enjoy!