ALGOMEYSE is the name sometimes applied to both the brightest and the second brightest stars of the constellation Canis Minor or the Little Dog. In the 1521 edition of the Alfonsine Tables, a set of astronomical tables made for Alfonso the Wise in 1252, the alpha or brightest star is called Algomeysa. The Arabs tell that the two dog stars were sisters of Canopus, another bright star, and that they were once together. When Canopus descended to the south (where it is today), Sirius, the greater dog star, followed. The third star remained in her place and wept for the loss of her two sisters until her eyes became infected with ghumsa, the white froth that collects in the inner corner of the eye. Thus, she is called al-Ghumaisa. Canopus is now seen only in the skies of the southern hemisphere.

Like Aldebaran, Algomeyse lies south of the ecliptic, the path of the sun, and is called a star of the south; since it is also north of the equator, it rises to the north of the eastern point of the horizon, Astr I.21.13-17. [Alhabor: Syrius]

Algomeyse is the ME descendant of Arabic al-Ghumaisa, "the frothy-eyed one."