Originally denoted some other predatory small animal, probably the marten or the ferret. Subsequently used by Cicero to describe the Egyptians' domesticated cats. The usual Lat. word for 'cat' until displaced by LLat. cattus (CDB).
Buck, C., D. (1949). A dictionary of selected synonyms in the principal Indo–European languages: a contribution to the history of ideas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[CDB]
Source
Houaiss, Antônio & MS Villar. 2001. Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto António Houaiss.
[DH]
Source
Lewis, Charlton T. & Charles Short. 1879. A Latin Dictionary. New York: Harper Row.
[LEW]
Source
Robert Farren, PIE culture words collection, 2017
[Farren (2017)]
Location
JY123
Etymology
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