Μαίρη Άλεν
#4 The Swiss call this breed Der Grosse Schweizer Sennenhund. Well, with “big” and “Swiss” everything is clear, but what does the word “mountain dog” mean?
There are two options here. The word senne is translated from Bavarian as "alpine pasture" and hund means "dog". Together we get "a dog from the alpine pastures." But there is also another interpretation. In the Swiss dialect, senn is a shepherd who grazes dairy cattle in an alpine area and then processes milk into cheese, cottage cheese, and butter. So, if we accept this version of the translation as correct, then the "mountain dog" is a "cheese-curd dog", or a dog that lives where cottage cheese and cheese are produced.
