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dog O.E. docga, a late, rare word used of a powerful breed of canine. It forced out O.E. hund (the general Germanic and IE word; see canine) by 16c. and subsequently was picked up in many continental languages (cf. Fr. dogue, Dan. dogge), but the origin remains one of the great mysteries of English etymology.
The generic name Canis means  dog  in Latin. The term canine comes from the adjective form, caninus (of the dog), from which the term canine tooth is also derived. The canine family has prominent canine teeth, used for killing their prey.olves, dogs, and dingoes are subspecies of Canis lupus. The original referent of the English word wolf, the Eurasian wolf, is called C. l. lupus to distinguish it from other wolf subspecies, such as the Indian wolf (C. l. pallipes), the Arabian wolf (C. l. arabs), or the Tibetan wolf (C. l. chanco).