Molossian

English

The Molossians’ (sense 1) region

The “Jennings Dog”, a Roman copy of a lost Greek bronze statue of the Molossian hound (sense 2), on display in the British Museum

Etymology

From Molossia +‎ -n.

Noun

Molossian (plural Molossians)

1. A member of the ancient Epirote ethnos which Olympias came from.
2. A breed of large dog of classical antiquity native to Epirus, resembling a mastiff and used as a hunting dog and guard dog.

   Synonyms: Molossian dog, Molossian hound, Molossus

   • 1896, Henryk Sienkiewicz, chapter LV, in Jeremiah Curtin, transl., “Quo Vadis.” A Narrative of the Time of Nero., Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, and Company, page 432:

     But meanwhile a new grating was opened, and into the arena rushed, with mad speed and barking, whole packs of dogs,—gigantic, yellow Molossians from the Peloponnesus, pied dogs from the Pyrenees, and wolf-like hounds from Hibernia, purposely famished; their sides were lank, and their eyes bloodshot.

   • 1975, Roger Longrigg, The History of Foxhunting, page 14:

     The hounds were Indian, Cretan or Locrian; there were also Molossians (mastiffs) and Spartans (big greyhounds).

   • 2012, Michael Bryant, 28 Seconds: A True Story of Addiction, Tragedy, and Hope, Viking:

     One constituent spent an hour educating me on the history of pit bulls: the Molossians, the Mastiffs; the Greeks, Romans, Brits, Tibetans, and Germans; the crossbreeds. A common theme ran throughout their history: they were the fiercest of fighters, and eventually bred to fight—in wars during antiquity, in dog fights for centuries. Regardless, they were again and again attacking other dogs and people.

   • 2017, Mary Dove, “Quintus”, in The End of Seven, Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 194:

     He loved dogs, indulged by Antius’ kennel composed of Neapolitan mastiffs and molossians, original Roman war dogs.

Translations

person from Molossia

• Portuguese: molosso (pt) m

Adjective

Molossian (comparative more Molossian, superlative most Molossian)

1. Of or relating to Molossia or Molossians.

Further reading

• Molossians on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Molossus (dog) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• moonsails