" ... Tray, Blanch, and Sweet-heart, see, they bark at me." (Lear, Act III
Scene 6)
Do any of you know how common a name Tray was for dogs in Shakespeare's
time? Or at any other time, come to that. I don't think I've come across it
anywhere else but attached to the dog of a friend of mine, and that was
quite definitely because of the Shakespearean reference.
A derivation of the orginal would be nice too, if anybody can hazard one.
joanna
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