What is 'dog Latin'?
'Dog Latin' is pretended or mongrel Latin — pseudo-Latin coined by adding Latin endings to English words. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), human-proofread transcription on English Wikisource records: “Pretended or mongrel Latin. An excellent example is Stevens' definition of a kitchen: As the law classically expresses it, a kitchen is "camera necessaria pro usus cookare; cum saucepannis, stewpannis, scullero, dressero, coalholo, stovis, smoak-jacko; pro roastandum, boilandum, fryandum, et plum-pudding-mixandum. . . . "— A Law Report (Daniel v. Dishclout).”
Origin
- Verbatim from Brewer's (1898): Pretended or mongrel Latin. An excellent example is Stevens' definition of a kitchen: As the law classically expresses it, a kitchen is "camera necessaria pro usus cookare; cum saucepannis, stewpannis, scullero, dressero, coalholo, stovis, smoak-jacko; pro roastandum, boilandum, fryandum, et plum-pudding-mixandum. . . . "— A Law Report (Daniel v. Dishclout).
How to use it
- Modern usage: 'Dog Latin' is pretended or mongrel Latin — pseudo-Latin coined by adding Latin endings to English words.
- When quoting the origin, cite Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898) — this is a 19th-century record, not a modern etymology.
Source:
Last verified: 2026-07-18
- Definitions and origins are drawn from public-domain reference works, primarily Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898), with modern usage notes clearly marked.