If you’re a geologist**, the word has a completely different meaning than it does if you’re a dog historian, and if you’re neither, you know the word as a noun: “Basset” comes from the French word meaning “low” and is used to refer to hounds that are shorter legged and lower to the earth than other dogs.
Do enough research into the history of dogs, however, and you’re likely to come across the word as a verb or adjective, “basseting” and “basseted” respectively. One refers to dwarfing a breed, while the latter is in reference to a dwarfed breed, and back in the day, spaniels in particular seemed to be popular candidates for basseting. It was these “basseted” dogs that became known as “comforter spaniels,” or “spaniels gentle,” and they were particular favorites as companions for ladies. It wasn’t unheard of for such dogs to be tucked up beneath a lady’s farthingale, chemise, petticoat or kirtle to keep her legs warm. Physicians of the day, namely Dr. Caius, doctor to Queen Elizabeth 1, felt the dogs to also assuage stomach ills by acting as a plaster, or offering heat to a woman’s bosom were she inclined to palpitations. Mary Queen of Scots was said to have a particular affinity for Comforter Spaniels which included Pugs, and Maltese dogs.
Perhaps it was a genetic thing (said somewhat jokingly) because it was Mary’s grandson, Charles I , who had a comforter spaniel, and he passed his fondness for them onto his own son, Charles II. Perhaps you’ve heard of the breeds they favored – Cavalier King Charles Spaniels?
We should mention that spaniels were not alone in being basseted. In his book, “Dogs,” author Mike Loades reports that miniature white greyhounds appeared fairly frequently in Renaissance and medieval art, and one supposes they were bred down from larger Greyhounds. Little doubt that today’s “IG,” or Italian Greyhound was a likely descendant of those dogs.
**In geology, basseting is the cropping out or appearance of rock on the surface of a stratum, or series of strata.
Image: Cavalier King Charles Spaniels by LA Shepherd
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