Editing Purebred (section)

==Pedigrees==
{{see also||Breed registry}}
[[File:LaMirage body07.jpg|thumb|right|A purebred [[Arabian horse]].]]
A '''pedigreed animal''' is one that has its ancestry recorded. Often this is tracked by a major [[breed registry|registry]]. The number of generations required varies from breed to breed, but all pedigreed animals have papers from the registering body that attest to their ancestry.

The word "pedigree" appeared in the English language in 1410 as "pee de Grewe", "pedegrewe" or "pedegru", each of those words being borrowed to the Middle French "pié de grue", meaning "crane foot". This comes from a visual analogy between the trace of the bird's foot and the three lines used in the English official registers to show the ramifications of a genealogical tree.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of dog pedigree in Europe |url=http://www.braquedubourbonnais.info/en/pedigree.htm |work=BraqueDuBourbonnais.info}}</ref>

Sometimes the word ''purebred'' is used synonymously with ''pedigreed'', but purebred refers to the animal having a known ancestry, and pedigree refers to the written record of breeding. Not all purebred animals have their lineage in written form. For example, until the 20th century, the [[Bedouin]] people of the [[Arabian Peninsula]] only recorded the ancestry of their [[Arabian horse]]s via an [[oral tradition]], supported by the swearing of religiously based oaths as to the [[asil (disambiguation)|asil]] or "pure" breeding of the animal. Conversely, some animals may have a recorded pedigree or even a registry, but not be considered "purebred". Today the modern [[Anglo-Arabian]] horse, a cross of [[Thoroughbred]] and [[Arabian horse|Arabian]] bloodlines, is considered such a case.