Read Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories, Legendary and Traditional Page 28

  MERINO.

  You have often had to wear a merino frock and merino socks, I daresay; but perhaps you do not know that the fine soft wool of whichthese are made comes from Spain. It is more interesting to know thatthere is a tradition which says that the particular breed of sheepfrom which this wool is taken, came originally from England; theircoats improved greatly in quality under the genial climate of Spain,and some people have supposed that the name merino is a corruptionof trans marino, because they came from over the sea. Others deriveit from the word Merino, an old title in use in the kingdom of Leon,meaning an overseer, and think that the sheep, having on their firstarrival been given into the care of a Merino, or overseer, the namecontinued to be applied to the animals after it had ceased to denotethe office.

  Others, again, derive it from the word merino, which denotes themigration to which these sheep are subjected; for in the hot weather,when the grass of the lowlands gets withered up, they have to bedriven into the mountain pastures.

  There is some doubt as to the date of the importation of the sheep;but most probably they were taken as part of the dowry of Catherine,daughter of John of Gaunt, when she went to marry Don Enrique III.,King of Leon and Castille.