The breed's origin is romantically reputed to be connected to ancient Egypt, where depictions of smooth-coated sighthound types have been found which are typical of saluki (Persian greyhound) or sloughi (tombs at Beni Hassan c. 2000 BC). However, analyses of DNA reported in 2004 suggest that the greyhound is not closely related to these breeds, but is a close relative to herding dogs.
Historical literature on the first sighthound in Europe (Arrian), thevertragus, the probable antecedent of the greyhound, suggests that the origin is with the ancient Celts from Eastern Europe or Eurasia. All modern, pure-bred pedigree greyhounds are derived from the greyhound stock recorded and registered, firstly in the private 18th century, then public 19th century studbooks, which ultimately were registered with coursing, racing, and kennel club authorities of the United Kingdom.Historically, these sighthounds were used primarily for hunting in the open where their keen eyesight is valuable. It is believed that they (or at least similarly-named dogs) were introduced to the area now known as the United Kingdom in the 5th and 6th century BC from Celtic mainland Europe although the Picts and other hunter gatherer tribes of the northern area now known as Scotland were believed to have had large hounds similar to that of the deerhound before the 6th century BC.
The name "greyhound" is generally believed to come from the Old English grighund. "Hund" is the antecedent of the modern "hound", but the meaning of "grig" is undetermined, other than in reference to dogs in Old English and Norse. Its origin does not appear to have any common root with the modern word "grey" for color, and indeed the greyhound is seen with a wide variety of coat colors. It is known that in England during the medieval period, lords and royalty keen to own greyhounds for sport, requested they be bred to color variants that made them easier to view and identify in pursuit of their quarry.
The lighter colors, patch-like markings and white appeared in the breed that was once ordinarily grey in color. The greyhound is the only dog mentioned by name in the Bible; the King James version names the greyhound as one of the "four things stately" in the Proverbs.[39] However, some more recent translations have changed this to strutting rooster, which appears to be a more correct translation of the Hebrew term זַרְזִיר (zarzir).According to Pokorny
the English name "greyhound" does not mean "gray dog/hound", but simply "fair dog". Subsequent words have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *g'her- "shine, twinkle": English gray, Old High German gris "grey, old", Old Icelandic griss "piglet, pig", Old Icelandic gryja "to dawn", gryjandi "morning twilight", Old Irish grian "sun", Old Church Slavonic zorja"morning twilight, brightness". The common sense of these words is "to shine; bright".In 1928, the very first winner of Best in Show at Crufts was Primeley Sceptre, a greyhound owned by H. Whitley.
References : Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyhound
Whippet History
Whippets
were bred to hunt by sight, coursing game in open areas at high speeds.
One can find numerous representations of small greyhound-like hounds in
art dating back to Roman times but the first written English use of the word "whippet" with regard to a type of
dog was in 1610. There is a picture by Jean
Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755) of "Misse", one of two
English whippets presented to Louis
XV, in the Washington
National Gallery and another, with her companion, "Turlu",
by the same artist in
the Musée National de Fontainebleau. However, some French sources,
notably the Ministry of Culture, use the word "levrette" to describe
Misse and Turlu. Levrette translates as "female greyhound". In the
nineteenth century, whippet racing was a national sport in England,
more popular than football. It is only beginning with this period that
the existence of the whippet as a distinct breed can be stated with
certainty. The age of the modern whippet dawned in 1890 when the
English Kennel Club granted the breed official recognition, thus making
the whippet eligible for competition in dog shows, and commencing the
recording of their pedigrees. In the United States, the whippet was
recognized in 1888 by the American Kennel Club. Early specimens were
taken from the race track by dog fanciers of the time and exported all
over the world. The whippet's versatility as a hunting, racing,
exhibition or companion dog soon made it one of the most popular of the
sighthound breeds.