Hair of the dog
Encyclopedia
"Hair of the dog" is a colloquial
expression in the English language predominantly used to refer to alcohol
that is consumed with the aim of lessening the effects of a hangover
. The expression originally referred to a method of treatment of a rabid
dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. The use of the phrase as a metaphor for a hangover treatment dates back to the time of William Shakespeare
. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
writes in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
(1898): "In Scotland
it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine within 24 hours to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail the next day.'" He also cites two apocryphal poems containing the phrase, one of which is attributed to Aristophanes
. It is possible that the phrase was used to justify an existing practice, and the idea of ("like cures like") dates back at least to the time of Hippocrates
.
The phrase also exists in Hungarian
, where the literal translation to English is "(You may cure) the dog's bite with its fur", but has evolved into a short two-word phrase ("kutyaharapást szőrével") that is used frequently in other contexts when one is trying to express that the solution to a problem is more of the problem. Among the Irish
and Mexicans, the phrase 'The Cure' ("curarse la cruda", in Spanish) is often used instead of 'hair of the dog'. It is used, often sarcastically, in the question "Going for a Cure?" In Costa Rica (Central America) the same expression is used but it refers to a pig as in: hair of the same pig ("pelos de la misma chancha" in Spanish) referring to the same method to cure the hangover.
In Polish, hair of the dog is called "a wedge" (klin), mirroring the concept of dislodging a stuck wedge with another one. The proper Russian term is - Опохмел ("after being drunk"), which indicates a process of drinking to decrease effects of drinking the night before.
A similar usage is encountered in Romanian
, in the phrase "Cui pe cui se scoate"; in Bulgarian
, in the phrase "Клин клин избива"; in Italian
, in the phrase "Chiodo scaccia chiodo"; and in Turkish
, in the phrase "Çivi çiviyi söker". In all four cases the English translation is "a nail dislodges a nail", though these phrases are not exclusively used to refer to the hangover cure.
In Swedish drinking alcohol to relieve a hangover is called "having an återställare", which translates roughly to "restorer".
In Norwegian, it is usually called "å reparere", meaning "to repair/fix".
In Finnish, it is called "tasoittava" (stabilizing).
In Tanzania, the equally swahili phrase used is "kuzimua" which means 'assist to wake up after a coma'.
The phrase "hair of the dog" was apparently first employed for a hangover cure in KTU
1.1114 line 29 wherein the chief god of the Ugarit
ic pantheon, i/el, takes some for his health. The usage is a borrowing from Akkadian
.
In the second, hangovers are attributed to methanol
metabolism. Levels of methanol, present as a congener
in alcohol, have been correlated with severity of hangover and methanol metabolism to the highly toxic formate via formaldehyde has a timecourse in keeping with the appearance of hangover symptoms. As both ethanol and methanol are metabolised by alcohol dehydrogenase - and ethanol is a much better substrate for this enzyme - drinking more of the former then effectively prevents (or delays) the metabolism of the latter. As pure ethanol consumption has also been found to increase endogenous levels of methanol presumably for this reason, this suggests that if “hair of the dog” works in this way it effects a temporary hiatus rather than a cure.
From the perspective of sugar metabolism, alcohol may cause a blood sugar spike, resulting in a hypoglycemic awakening "hangover". Finishing the drink left on the counter might be the quickest way to ingest more calories that quickly convert to 'sugar' to raise the body's blood sugar, as well lifting the fainting and headaches often associated with low blood sugar.
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
expression in the English language predominantly used to refer to alcohol
Alcohol
In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....
that is consumed with the aim of lessening the effects of a hangover
Hangover
A hangover describes the sum of unpleasant physiological effects following heavy consumption of alcoholic beverages. The most commonly reported characteristics of a hangover include headache, nausea, sensitivity to light and noise, lethargy, dysphoria, diarrhea and thirst, typically after the...
. The expression originally referred to a method of treatment of a rabid
Rabies
Rabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
dog bite by placing hair from the dog in the bite wound. The use of the phrase as a metaphor for a hangover treatment dates back to the time of William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
Ebenezer Cobham Brewer
The Reverend Dr. Ebenezer Cobham Brewer , was the compiler of Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, and The Reader's Handbook, Victorian reference works.-Education and travels:E...
writes in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, sometimes referred to simply as Brewer's, is a reference work containing definitions and explanations of many famous phrases, allusions and figures, whether historical or mythical.-History:...
(1898): "In Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine within 24 hours to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail the next day.'" He also cites two apocryphal poems containing the phrase, one of which is attributed to Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
. It is possible that the phrase was used to justify an existing practice, and the idea of ("like cures like") dates back at least to the time of Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates of Cos or Hippokrates of Kos was an ancient Greek physician of the Age of Pericles , and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine...
.
The phrase also exists in Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
, where the literal translation to English is "(You may cure) the dog's bite with its fur", but has evolved into a short two-word phrase ("kutyaharapást szőrével") that is used frequently in other contexts when one is trying to express that the solution to a problem is more of the problem. Among the Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
and Mexicans, the phrase 'The Cure' ("curarse la cruda", in Spanish) is often used instead of 'hair of the dog'. It is used, often sarcastically, in the question "Going for a Cure?" In Costa Rica (Central America) the same expression is used but it refers to a pig as in: hair of the same pig ("pelos de la misma chancha" in Spanish) referring to the same method to cure the hangover.
In Polish, hair of the dog is called "a wedge" (klin), mirroring the concept of dislodging a stuck wedge with another one. The proper Russian term is - Опохмел ("after being drunk"), which indicates a process of drinking to decrease effects of drinking the night before.
A similar usage is encountered in Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
, in the phrase "Cui pe cui se scoate"; in Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
, in the phrase "Клин клин избива"; in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, in the phrase "Chiodo scaccia chiodo"; and in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, in the phrase "Çivi çiviyi söker". In all four cases the English translation is "a nail dislodges a nail", though these phrases are not exclusively used to refer to the hangover cure.
In Swedish drinking alcohol to relieve a hangover is called "having an återställare", which translates roughly to "restorer".
In Norwegian, it is usually called "å reparere", meaning "to repair/fix".
In Finnish, it is called "tasoittava" (stabilizing).
In Tanzania, the equally swahili phrase used is "kuzimua" which means 'assist to wake up after a coma'.
The phrase "hair of the dog" was apparently first employed for a hangover cure in KTU
Ugaritic alphabet
The Ugaritic script is a cuneiform abjad used from around 1400 BCE for Ugaritic, an extinct Northwest Semitic language, and discovered in Ugarit , Syria, in 1928. It has 30 letters...
1.1114 line 29 wherein the chief god of the Ugarit
Ugarit
Ugarit was an ancient port city in the eastern Mediterranean at the Ras Shamra headland near Latakia, Syria. It is located near Minet el-Beida in northern Syria. It is some seven miles north of Laodicea ad Mare and approximately fifty miles east of Cyprus...
ic pantheon, i/el, takes some for his health. The usage is a borrowing from Akkadian
Akkadian language
Akkadian is an extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the cuneiform writing system derived ultimately from ancient Sumerian, an unrelated language isolate...
.
Scientific background
There are at least two theories as to how "hair of the dog" works. In the first, hangovers are described as the first stage of alcohol withdrawal, which is then alleviated by further alcohol intake. Although “...Low [ethanol] doses may effectively prevent alcohol withdrawal syndrome in surgical patients”, this idea is questionable as the signs and symptoms of hangover and alcohol withdrawal are very different.In the second, hangovers are attributed to methanol
Methanol
Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol...
metabolism. Levels of methanol, present as a congener
Congener
Congener has several different meanings depending on the field in which it is used. Colloquially, it is used to mean a person or thing like another, in character or action.-Biology:In biology, congeners are organisms within the same genus...
in alcohol, have been correlated with severity of hangover and methanol metabolism to the highly toxic formate via formaldehyde has a timecourse in keeping with the appearance of hangover symptoms. As both ethanol and methanol are metabolised by alcohol dehydrogenase - and ethanol is a much better substrate for this enzyme - drinking more of the former then effectively prevents (or delays) the metabolism of the latter. As pure ethanol consumption has also been found to increase endogenous levels of methanol presumably for this reason, this suggests that if “hair of the dog” works in this way it effects a temporary hiatus rather than a cure.
From the perspective of sugar metabolism, alcohol may cause a blood sugar spike, resulting in a hypoglycemic awakening "hangover". Finishing the drink left on the counter might be the quickest way to ingest more calories that quickly convert to 'sugar' to raise the body's blood sugar, as well lifting the fainting and headaches often associated with low blood sugar.
External links
- "Early Modern Whale: Langley Marish: Milton, and the hair of the dog" a compilation of early uses of the expression "hair of the dog".