Man's best friend

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The dog as “best friend”:
Buddy (German: 'friend, mate'), from 1997 to 2002 the dog of the then US President Bill Clinton

The superlative Periphrase man's best friend (or man's best friend ) generally refers to the dogs, especially the house dog , without naming him explicitly. It describes and underlines the relationship between humans and dogs , which from a human point of view is often perceived as special and apparently based on " friendship ". Analogous paraphrases can be found in many languages.

In rare cases, the paraphrase is used for other topics as well.

Early mentions

As early as 1518 in Erasmus of Rotterdam , in the Latin text of Colloqviorvm familiarivm opvs (Conversations in familiar family circles), the statement that the dog is man's friend is found:

"Iam uix ullum animal amicius quam canis , nec inimicius quam lupus ..."
There is no animal that is more a man's friend than the dog, and none a worse enemy than the wolf ...

In 1764 Voltaire also stated in the Dictionnaire philosophique that the dog is man's best friend:

“The semble que la nature ait donné le chien à l'homme pour sa défense et pour son plaisir. C'est de tous les animaux le plus fidèle: c'est le meilleur ami que puisse avoir l'homme . "
“It seems that nature gave the dog to man for his defense and pleasure. He is the most loyal of all animals: he is the best friend that humans can have. "

Voltaire's statement was received in Germany in 1860.

In English, the paraphrase appears in the context of a humorous, anonymous poem about the horse in The New-York Literary Journal, and Belles-lettres Repository, Volume 4 , 1821:

"The faithful dog - why should I strive
To speak his merits while they live
In every breast, and man's best friend
Does often at his heels attend. "

In German literature the phrase appears in Latest Weltkunde (1840):

"In almost all countries the dog is man's best friend ..."

use

Today you can find literal equivalents of man's best friend in many languages , for example

  • in Chinese : 人类 最好 的 朋友,
  • in Danish : menneskets bedste ven ,
  • in Polish : najlepszym przyjacielem człowieka ,
  • in Spanish : el mejor amigo del hombre etc.

In everyday German and in scientific terminology, for example in behavioral research , the paraphrase is only found in rare cases.

The best friend of man / man's best friend is used when popular science , literary and / or humorous reference is made to the emotional basis of the dog's special position.

This is the case, for example, with book titles (novels and non-fiction) such as Why Dogs? - The amazing story of man's best friend - a historical, scientific, philosophical and political foray or man’s best friend… TV documentaries ( The dog - man’s best friend? ) Or exhibitions also address the description.

Animal calendars ( emotional moments: man's best friend ), cartoons like Snoopy: Man's Best Friend or the 1935 film Man's Best Friend , in which a boy suffers from his dog being falsely suspected and chased by his own father, are more aimed at children becomes.

In English-speaking one occasionally finds an exaggerated cynical and ironic use, as in the black-humored horror movie Man's Best Friend from 1993 in which genetically modified by a murderous Tibetan Mastiff , the description is reversed, or in the apocalyptic science fiction -Novelle A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison , in which the boy Vic shows his friendship with his dog in a drastic way and above the friendship with his fellow men.

Scientific investigations

While the "friendship" from the point of view of humans in relation to his dog can be measured quantitatively, the "friendship" of the dog in relation to his human is much more difficult to quantify.

Man's best friend

The statement that the dog is man's best friend is not an objective statement, but rather represents an individual point of view, albeit one that is often expressed.

In specific cases, the three-part questionnaire of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) can be used to psychometrically evaluate (in individual cases ) and quantify (with regard to a defined population of dog owners) the perception of “friendship” of a person with his dog .

In extreme cases, an excessive humanization of the dog by its owner can be determined in the human-dog relationship . A psychological study with almost 2,800 dog owners at the University of Bonn in 2008 showed that around 43% of all dog owners belong to a type that is referred to in the study as "nature-loving and social dog owner". Already about a third (35%) of all dog owners were assigned to the type of "strongly focused on the dog, emotionally bound dog owner" and 22% to the type of "prestige-oriented, humanizing dog owner", which suggests that about 60% of all dog owners " humanize ”and thereby develop a strong emotional bond with him (as a“ friend ”?).

The dog's best friend

To ask "best friend" from the dog's perspective; H. To determine the relationship and the bond between the dog and a person, behavioral research tests are carried out with the dog in which a person known to the dog is absent or present and in the latter case adheres to the behavioral guidelines of the test procedure.

As part of a dissertation at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala , it was investigated to what extent the individual "degree of friendship" of the owner (or another person), measured using MDORS, with the dog's "friendship testimonials", measured using the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP), correlated . Stranger Situation Tests were developed to examine mother-child relationships; In behavioral research , this type of behavior test has been adapted to domestic dogs.

The behavior of the dogs was observed on the one hand after they were left alone in the apartment by their owners (or another known person), on the other hand, which behavior and which previously defined elements of body language they show when their owner (or the other known person) ) returns.
Three parameters were found that determine the dog's behavior:

  • "Expressions of friendship" in the dog depend on the absence of the known person; short absences (i.e. short separation intervals) produce less pronounced behavior than longer periods of absence.
  • The longer a dog is familiar with a person - d. H. the longer he has already interacted with her in the past - the clearer the dog shows "happy behavior" when they meet again.
  • The physical "expressions of friendship" (licking, tail wagging, agitation, etc.) when the dog sees each other, the more intense the more intensely the person is busy with the dog at this point (only standing, and / or turning, and / or touching, and / or speaking).

The extent of "expressions of friendship" in the dog runs parallel to these parameters, but does not depend on the emotional MDORS "degree of friendship" of the person with whom the dog is interacting.

Other "best friends of man"

In addition to the almost exclusive association of the dog as “man's best friend”, this description also, but rarely, stands for other metaphysical and real objects.

  • Death - “Death is man's best friend” is attributed to Mozart (1756–1791), but can also be found in other sources in 1790 and 1896.
  • God - "God also proves himself to be man's best friend through this covenant, because through it he accepts him into his eternal friendship and wants to share his love with him forever after the conditions of this covenant have been fulfilled."
  • Lucifer - “This Lucifer is really the Bringer of Light, the genius of science, the proud, defiant spirit of criticism, man's best friend, overthrown because he did not want to crawl and lie, but indomitable because he is eternally like his enemy. "
  • Mind - "Just as the mind is man's best friend, so ignorance is his worst enemy."
  • Louse - "Man's best friend: The louse" is to be understood ironically, as lice have accompanied Homo sapiens throughout its developmental history - that is, much longer than the dog, whose coexistence with humans is estimated at around 32,000 to 135,000 years .
  • Book - Wilhelm Hauff is said to have said: “The best friend of man is the book. It's always ready to devote itself to us and is never out of tune when we brush it aside. ... "

literature

Individual evidence and explanations

  1. ^ Desiderius Erasmus: Colloqviorvm familiarivm opvs . Apvd Seb. Gryphivm, 1542, p. 635.
  2. ↑ a b Free translation
  3. ^ Voltaire, MA Goujon: Œuvres complètes de Voltaire: Dictionnaire philosophique . Chez Th. Desoer, 1817, p. 587.
  4. ↑ Hans Wachenhusen: The book of trips: The most interesting and newest travel adventures . Dominé, 1860, p. 309.
  5. ^ The New-York Literary Journal, and Belles-lettres Repository . CS Van Winkle, 1821, p. 124.
  6. ↑ Martin, Gary. "Man's Best Friend," The Phrase Finder
  7. ^ H. Malten: Latest world studies . HR Sauerländer, 1840, p. 374.
  8. ↑ 中国 武警 . 中国 武警 杂志 社, 2005.
  9. ↑ Wendy Boorer: Den kære hund: menneskets bedste ven . Lademann, 1977.
  10. ↑ Dogs he menneskets bedste ven! . Scancom, 2011.
  11. ^ Iwona Sadowska: Polish: A Comprehensive Grammar . Routledge, March 15, 2012, ISBN 978-0415475419 , p. 315.
  12. ↑ Fernando Alburquerque: El perro: (el mejor amigo del hombre) . Hernando, 1949.
  13. ^ Mark Glazer: A Dictionary of Mexican American Proverbs . Greenwood Publishing Group, 1987, ISBN 978-0-313-25385-0 , p. 7.
  14. ↑ John Homans: Why Dogs? - The amazing story of man's best friend - a historical, scientific, philosophical and political foray , Springer Spectrum (2014), ISBN 978-3-662-43387-4
  15. ↑ Rebecca Sytlof: Man's best friend… . Mariposa-Verlag, 2003, ISBN 978-3-927708-32-7 .
  16. ^ ZDF: The dog - man's best friend?  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.zdf.de  
  17. ^ Exhibition in Hamburg , Die Zeit, April 28, 1995
  18. ↑ For example " Emotional Moments: Man's Best Friend "
  19. ↑ Internet Movie Database: Snoopy: Man's Best Friend (1983)
  20. ↑ Internet Movie Database: Man's Best Friend (1935)
  21. ↑ Ellen Weil, Gary K. Wolfe: Harlan Ellison: The Edge of Forever . Ohio State University Press, 2002, ISBN 978-0-8142-0892-2 , p. 154.
  22. ↑ The MDORS has three different sections on the subjects of dog / owner interaction , perceived emotional closeness and perceived costs . For each area questions are asked or statements are presented, which are answered by the test person on a gradual scale.
  23. ↑ Fleur Dwyer, Pauleen C. Bennett, Grahame Coleman: Development of the Monash Dog Owner Relationship Scale (MDORS) Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, Volume 19, No. 3 (2006), p 243rd -256.
  24. ↑ Questions about friendship are asked in Part II, perceived emotional closeness . Examples: How often do you tell your dog things that you don't tell anyone else? or it bothers me that sometimes I have to change my plans because of my dog.
  25. ^ Ferdinand Knauss: Psychology - When dogs are loved too much , Handelsblatt, November 21, 2007; accessed on February 21, 2015.
  26. ↑ Psychology of the human-dog relationship , Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, study by Dr. Silke Wechsung, June 12, 2008; accessed on February 21, 2015.
  27. ^ Therese Rehn: Best of friends? Investigating the Dog-Human Relationship , Doctoral Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Uppsala (2013)
  28. ↑ Pet Preference: The Dog's Best Friend , Spiegel-Online, October 15, 2013; Retrieved February 19, 2015.
  29. ↑ Thomas Lehr: The hearing: Roman . Structure of Taschenbuch Verlag, 2000, ISBN 978-3-7466-1638-4 .
  30. ↑ Sabine Kuschel: In the face of death, people become clairvoyant and wise , Mitteldeutsche Kirchenzeitungen, March 13, 2011; accessed on February 24, 2015.
  31. ↑ Edward Young: Lamentations, or night thoughts about life, death, and immortality: In addition to seven characteristic satires on the lust for glory, the general passion 1790, p. 1.
  32. ^ Wilhelm Scherer: Karl Müllenhoff: a life picture . Weidmann, 1896.
  33. ↑ Johann Friedrich Stapfer: Foundation for true religion . Heidegger, 1754, p. 304.
  34. ↑ Hildegard Piegeler, Inken Prohl, Stefan Rademacher: Lived Religions: Investigations into the social shaping power of religious ideas and practices in the past and present; Festschrift for Hartmut Zinser on his 60th birthday . Königshausen & Neumann, 2004, ISBN 978-3-8260-2768-0 , p. 251.
  35. ↑ Günther Blaicher: The reception Byron in German criticism (1820-1914): a documentary . Königshausen & Neumann, 2001, ISBN 978-3-8260-2113-8 , p. 73.
  36. ↑ Arabs: Popular philosophy of the Arabs, Persians and Turks, partly collected, partly trans. by F. von Dombay 1795, p. 22.
  37. ↑ Lisa Signorile: Mishaps of Evolution: Why You Should Love These Animals anyway . btb Verlag, October 27, 2014, ISBN 978-3-641-12585-1 , pp. 4 and 65.
  38. ↑ Germonpré M, Sablin MV, Stevens RE, Hedges REM, Hofreiter M, et al. (2009) Fossil dogs and wolves from Palaeolithic sites in Belgium, the Ukraine and Russia: osteometry, ancient DNA and stable isotopes. Journal of Archaeological Science 36: 473-490. doi : 10.1016 / j.jas.2008.09.033 .
  39. ↑ Jennifer Viegas: MSNBC: World's first dog lived 31,700 years ago, ate big . In: Discovery News , MSNBC, Oct.17. 
  40. ↑ C. Natanaelsson, MC Oskarsson, H. Angleby, J. Lundeberg, E. Kirkness, P. Savolainen: Dog Y chromosomal DNA sequence: identification, sequencing and SNP discovery. In: BMC genetics. Volume 7, 2006, p. 45, doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2156-7-45 , PMID 17026745 , PMC 1630699 (free full text).
  41. ↑ Swiss Gutenberg Museum : Swiss Gutenberg Museum: Musée Gutenberg suisse 1929.
  42. ↑ GA von Halem (Bremen): The German book Value and Effect for the German Abroad: A Memorandum, 1928 . Halem, 1928, p. 77.