Sunday, August 25, 2019

What's in a name? The Maremma

One of a series about the large, white, livestock guardian dogs (LGD) of Europe.

This Maremma belongs to Bradley in Australia.
The official name for the breed is
From:  The Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI), the World Canine Organization, founded in 1911.

It is a breed of livestock guardian dog indigenous to central Italy, particularly to (1) the Abruzzo region and (2) the Maremma region of Tuscany and Lazio.

The literal English translation of the name is "The dog of the shepherds of the Maremma and Abruzzese regions".

Is sometimes referred to simply as the Maremmano or Abruzzese Sheepdog, depending on which region it's from.

Can be abbreviated as "Pma" or "Cpma."

The breed is widely employed in Abruzzo, where sheep herding remains vital to the rural economy and the wolf remains an active and protected predator.
From: wiki/Maremma_Sheepdog


"BRIEF HISTORICAL SUMMARY: This ancient breed of dogs who guard flocks comes from shepherd dogs actually still used in the Abruzzes where the breeding of sheep is still thriving even in these days, and sheepdogs which existed yesteryear in the region of the Tuscan Maremma and in that of Latium*. Especially since 1860, the seasonal moving of livestock from one region to another has favoured the developing of a natural crossing of those two primitive breeds."

The English name of the breed is Maremma Sheepdog, per The Kennel Club, "the UK’s largest organisation dedicated to protecting and promoting the health and welfare of all dogs."  

The English name of the breed derives from that of the Maremma marshlands, where, until recently, shepherds, dogs and hundreds of thousands of sheep over-wintered [part of the ancient process of transhumance].


"The Maremma is a coastal area of western central Italy, bordering the Tyrrhenian Sea. It includes much of south-western Tuscany and part of northern Lazio. It was formerly mostly marsh-land, often malarial, but was drained and reclaimed as part of the Battle for Land under the Fascist régime of the early twentieth century."

From The Kennel Club: Maremma Sheepdog 
From Wikipedia: Maremma_Sheepdog
From FCI Nomenclature: Standards #201
The area of Italy in which the Maremma is located.

The Abruzzo region of Italy.

The modern route between the Maremmano and Abruzzo areas.




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