Editing Saluki (section)

==Name==
The origins of the name of the breed are not clear.<ref>Smith, G. Rex. "The Arabian hound, the salūqī–further consideration of the word and other observations on the breed." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 43.3 (1980): 459-465.</ref><ref name=mee21>{{cite news|first=Harun|last=Al Aswad|title=Meet Syria's 'loyal, affectionate and very intelligent' Saluki dogs|url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/syria-saluki-dogs-loyal-affectionate-intelligent-meet-pictures|access-date=29 August 2021|work=Middle East Eye|date=23 August 2021|archive-date=29 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829104308/https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/syria-saluki-dogs-loyal-affectionate-intelligent-meet-pictures|url-status=live}}</ref> The Saluki has also been called the gazelle hound, Arabian hound, and the Persian greyhound.<ref name=behavior/> One suggested origin of the breed's name is ancient [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] {{lang|sux-Latn|salu-ki}} translating to 'plunge-earth'.<ref>{{cite web|title=International World History Project|url=http://history-world.org/sumerianwords2.htm|access-date=30 September 2015|archive-date=18 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618214931/http://history-world.org/sumerianwords2.htm|url-status=usurped}}</ref> However, there is no evidence a breed existed then or was referred to by the Sumerians with this name, nor is it certain what "plunge [to/into] earth" might have meant in reference to dogs. It is suggestive of digging for burrowing prey animals, but there is also a story {{crossreference printworthy|([[Saluki#Swiftness and physical capacity|see below]])}} of dogs being thrown toward quarry animals by a camel-mounted hunter.

The name used for the modern breed could be derived from {{Transliteration|ar|Saluqiyyah}} (Arabic for "[[Seleucia]]", a city of [[Mesopotamia]] now in [[Iraq]]), appearing in [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|pre-Islamic]] [[Arabic poetry]]. However, this is disputed.<ref name="royalhunt"/>{{rp|56}} British diplomat [[Terence Clark]] wrote that the Arabic word {{Transliteration|ar|saluqi}} indicates 'person or thing from a place named Saluq'. Arab tradition states that Saluq was an ancient town in [[Yemen]] not far from modern [[Ta'izz]], and the Arabs associate this town with the origin of the breed. However, the word {{Transliteration|ar|saluqi}} might have been derived from reference to several other places: Saluq in [[Armenia]], and three towns called Saluqiyah. One has become modern [[Silifke]], [[Turkey]]; another is near [[Antioch]] (modern [[Antakya]]), Turkey; and third is located near [[Baghdad]], Iraq. Baghdad eclipsed [[Ctesiphon]], the capital of the [[Persian Empire]], which was located some {{cvt|30|km|mi|-1}} to the southeast. Ctesiphon itself had replaced and absorbed Seleucia, the first capital of the [[Seleucid Empire]] (312 BC – 65 AD).<ref name="Clark's website"/>

Regardless, the adjective {{Transliteration|ar|saluqi}} may have been derived by the [[Arabs]] of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] from the similar-sounding word for Seleucid used in the [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] and [[Syriac language|Syriac]] languages spoken there by the [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]] of that part of [[Mesopotamia]], but there is no irrefutable evidence.<ref name="Clark's website">[http://www.saluqi.net/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619022453/http://saluqi.net/|date=19 June 2013}} Saluqi.net</ref>

[[File:Kurdish Saluki.jpg|thumb|200px|Kurdish Saluki from the west of Iran]]