alaunt?

[Dave]

I have a distinct memory of this word appearing in The Once and Future King, by T. H. White -- it refers to an extinct breed of something like a mastiff, and is probably synonymous with our fearless leader's namesake, alan, which the puzzle does accept.

Alan?

Cheers,

Dave The Dogged

[Binkie]

Hello Dave....long time, no hear. Thank you for the post. As usual, you sent me off to look up something I didn't know.(mind you, that doesn't take much doing ! )  I have Googled and Wikied and I know the following, thanks to you.....

"The Alaunt is a now extinct Molosser dog breed. A number of modern breeds are believed directly descended from the Alaunt. The original alaunt is thought to have resembled a Central Asian Ovcharka. They were large, short coated mountain dogs of varying type. The Alaunt was bred and formed by the Alani tribes, the nomads of Indo-European Sarmatian ancestry who were related to the Sarmatians and spoke a Indo-Iranian language. The Alans were known as superb warriors, herdsmen and breeders of horses and dogs. The Alans bred their dogs for work and had developed different strains within the breed for specific duties."

I just hope I can retain even a fraction of the knowledge I've gleaned since joining the forum!
How is/ was the poetry workshop?

[Dave]

Poetry workshop has another five weeks to go, Binks, and I really am hoping that it is going to get a lot better after a truly ghastly assignment that kept me grinding out the most awful drivel for what seemed like a bloody eternity.  We had to do a traditional-style ballad, with NO humour -- that was the worst part for me, because I have awful trouble taking that form seriously.  I learnt a tremendous amount about how not to do it, which I guess was very good for my soul, if not for my blood pressure.  And I absolutely NEVER want to write another ballad!

I have a fairly unpleasant afternoon's work ahead of me even though I have been delivered of my own watermelon wrapped in barbed wire: giving bloody feedback that I know is a waste of time in most cases.

But at least it has got me writing again -- although I'm really, really hoping that we are going to move onto something more congenial in terms of form and that I'll be able to produce something that doesn't make me want to go into hiding!

Cheers,

Dave

[Binkie]

I think you're really beginning to fit the part of tortured genius, Dave.......but keep battling on ! Your advice might do more good than you realise, and be the tiny spark that ignites the talent of a new Milton or Wordsworth. Perhaps not quite that exalted . Would you believe Roger McGough?  How about Patience Strong? All right then, a new Spike Milligan.....he might not be the world's greatest poet but he IS funny !  Was, sorry....RIP Spike.

[Dave]

The "tortured" part is pretty right, at any rate...

[Alan W]

Regarding alaunt, it is apparently another form of alan, meaning, according to the Shorter Oxford, a large hunting dog, a wolfhound or, in heraldry, a short-eared mastiff. Other variants, already allowed in Chihuahua, are aland and alant. So alaunt will be added to the list.

(Please, no ribald comments about inserting a large hunting dog into a chihuahua.)

I'm not 100% sure about the connection with the people known as the Alans or Alani. The passage Binkie quotes is from a Wikipedia entry that cites no sources, and I haven't seen any other, independent, website with the same account of the origin of the hounds. So it should be treated with caution, even though it seems plausible.