Hair of the dog...

Posted by ESC on September 30, 2002

In Reply to: Is this a nautical term? posted by jim on September 30, 2002

: Where did the expression, "hair of the dog" originate? Thank you...

This reference doesn't mention the sea.

HAIR OF THE DOG THAT BIT YOU - "A deliberate second experience (usually alcoholic) with something that was a bad first experience. It is ancient folk wisdom that like cures like, so ancient that the idea was expressed in Latin: Similia similibus curantur. A specific remedy for a dog bite was hair from the dog that bit you; the hair (often burned first) was applied to the wound." From The Dictionary of Cliches by James Rogers (Ballantine Books, New York, 1985).