The Kuvasz

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THE KUVASZ

Probably the best known of all Hungarian Balkan dogs is the Kuvasz (Plural Kuvaszok).

This breed has been known in Europe for many more centuries than some readers might suppose. Whereas, conventional breed histories tend to say "for nearly a thousand years" there is reason to conclude it might more accurately be stated as "for the past several thousand years." Until recently, the history of the Hungarian working breeds was a mostly a subject of speculation and their origins placed in vastly separated regions.

Consider the research and findings of Hungarian born kynologist, Sandor Palfalvy, member of the Alabama Academy of Science and a breeder of the Puli for 47 years- many of these having been spent in research concerning the Puli history and that of the Hungarian people. His research included a thorough study of the Sumerian, Sanskeit, Greek and latin literature and as well, excavated findings from the Tigris-Euphrates Valley. From these, he found the names of the three breeds frequently mentioned in ancient literature, and had reason to conclude that the Komondor, the Kuvasz, and the Puli were indeed domesticated and employed by Sumerian herdsmen as far back as seven to eight thousand years ago. These dogs accompanied herdsmen during their travels from Mesopotamia to the region of present -day Hungary.

The word " Kuvasz" is of Sumarian origin, not Turkish, as some have thought. The first letters "KU" are from an old Sumerian word for dog, "KUDDA". Modern Hungarian has the word as "Kutya". Then there is another word important in the history of the Kuvasz, the word "Assa", meaning "horse" in Sumerian. Ku-Assa, therefore, means a dog that guarded and ran alongside horses and horsemen.

Step back in history to the year 2250 b.c., when the great Babylonian King Hammurabi inscribed a series of laws on a huge stone which can now be seen at the the Louvre Museum in Paris. In cluded in this Code is mention of the three Hungarian breeds-Kuvasz, Komondor and Puli. Then at the site of Akkad in Northern Mesopotamia, a city of the 30th. century B.C. ,there was found a clay board containing cuneiform writing and bearing the words KU_ASSA. This piece is now at the Asmolean Museum. Back even farther, in the 35th. Century, B.C. was the city called Ur by the Euphrates River, also in Mesopotamia, a city mentioned in the Old Testemant. Within its ruins, two clay boards were found, which listed the belongings of two families , Kuth and Bana. These boards are at the British Museum, having been acquired through the work of Sir C. Leonard Wooley, archeologist, in a project sponsored by the British Academy of Science.

There are undoubtedly more references, another being from a clay tablet 7,000 years old, found in 1931, during explorations of the ruins of the city of Ugarit, also in Mesopotamia, ruins dating back to 5,000 B.C. Under excavations directed by Sir H. J. Mcdonald a clay tablet was found on which was inscribed in cuneiform writing the word KU_ASS. This tablet is displayed at the London British Museum. Some have attempted to claim that the name "Kuvasz" is a corruption of the Turkish word "Kawasz" meaning a bodyguard. In some explanations this has been amplified to mean "armed guard of nobility". You may of course, look up the word"Kuwasz" in Hutchinson's dog encyclopedia and see the following explanation: "Kawasz" in Turkish the word means "armed guardian of security of the European consuls and ambassadors dressed in an especially picturesque costume".