(Part one)
“Onomastics” refers to the intellectual endeavor of studying names of all kinds, including animal names. There are two specialized branches of Onomastics: Toponymy (study of place-names) and Anthroponymy (study of personal names). Here is an attempt to explore the semantic content of the zoonym: “Cat”.
The meaning of a name can be a single definite description, or a cluster of descriptions, not all of which need to be true. Animal names are often a description of a distinctive feature of their physical appearance.
Cats have unique vertical-slit pupils. The vertical slit allows for a massive change in pupil area, from a thin slit in bright light to a wide, round shape in the dark. This helps them to minimize or to maximize light intake.
Large pupil shows the red reflex (commonly known as “red-eye” in photos) because it allow more light to reach the blood-rich retina at the back of the eye, which then reflects that light back out. This makes cat’s eyes to appear to “glow” in the dark.
Cats also have a nictitating membrane, allowing them to blink without hindering their vision. in other words, they use a “third eyelid” which moves diagonally across the eye to keep it moist and clean without blinking.
Cats’ names usually highlight these two phenomena. Names describing slit pupil will be explored here, but those for round pupil will be left for the second part of this article.
Cat is Wanderwort
According to Wiktionary the zoonym “Cat” is from an Afroasiatic origin. Afroasiatic is a major language family comprising Semitic and several “African” branches (Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, and Ancient Egyptian).
Semitic languages: Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Hebrew, Ge’ez, Mandaic, Old-South-Arabian, Phoenician, Syriac, Tigre, Tigrinya, Ugaritic, among others.
“Cat, From Middle English: cat, catte, from Old English: catt (“male cat”), catte (“female cat”), from Proto-West Germanic: *kattu, generally thought to be from Late Latin: cattus (“domestic cat”) (c. 350, Palladius), from Latin: catta (c. 75 A.D., Martial), from an Afroasiatic language.” (Wiktionary)
This Wanderwort is found in many languages, including Arabic and Syriac. The word for Cat in Arabic is: “qiṭ” (قِط) or “qăṭu” (قَطو), cognate with Syriac: “ܩܛܘ”. (qăṭṭu).
Arabic “qiṭ and qăṭ”
qăṭ (قَط) is an ancient Arabic verb, it means: “to cut”.
[q] is the emphatic variant of: [k]
[ṭ] is the emphatic variant of [t].
Therefore, kăt (كت) is the non-emphatic variant of qăṭ (قط).
A by-form of qăṭ is “qăd/قد” = to slice vertically.
kăt is a Semitic word, but ultimately Sumerian.
The etymon of (kăt) is the Sumerian “kid”, which means: “to cut”, “to break off”
The word “qiṭ” (or qăṭu) is used as a name for the cat.
Cat in Arabic is qiṭ (قط) or qăṭu (قطو).
qiṭ ( = cat ) and qăṭ ( = cut), are more likely to be doublets, stem from the same etymon.
băs and puss
Arabic language has anther name for this cuddly meowing creature, which is: “băs/بس”
băs is an Arabic lexical word, it means: “to break” or “to cut into pieces”.
băs is cognate with Akkadian “pāšu” (a deverbal noun meaning: axe).
This word is also a Wanderwort, found in many unrelated languages, with the same meaning: “Cat”.
It is English: “puss“, Dutch: “poes”, Romanian: “pisică”, Persian: “piši”, Tagalog: “pusa”, Sardinian: “pisittu” and ancient Egyptian: “Bastet or Bast” (αἴλουρος/Ailuros).
Germanic: “puss” also refers to the vulva, (the vertical cut). Interestingly enough, Arabic “ḥir” (vagina) is a homophone of “hir” (anther name for the cat).
Inanna/Ishtar
This resemblance led to the association between women and cats in ancient cultures, specially with their “erotic” sides. Inanna/Ishtar is portrayed as a goddess of sexual love and bohemian sexuality.
Bastet, the Egyptian goddess
The ancient Egyptian Festival of Bastet was held annually in the city of Bubastis, the cult center of the goddess. During this grand celebration, celebrants engaged in ecstatic and orgiastic activities to honor the goddess. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus described the festival as a joyous occasion.
Bastet was also associated with the “Eye of Ra”, hinting at her big eyes (or pupils). “Ra” was the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun. “Eye of Ra” usually depicted as Sun disk.
Cats and Oxytocin
Oxytocin is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus and released by the pituitary gland that plays a key role in social bonding, reproduction, and childbirth. It is often called the “love hormone” for its role in social and romantic attachment. Studies show that Cats purr, and their friendly contact with humans, boost oxytocin in their brain. Interestingly, oxytocin enhances pupil dilation.
Tabby cat & St. Mary
By comparing the DNA of cats throughout history, a study captures a glimpse of how the animals were changing even before humans started to cart them across the globe. Surprisingly, wild and domestic cats showed no major differences in their genetic makeup, and one of the few traits available for telling them apart was the tabby coat marking. The study sheds light on the late emergence of the blotched or striped coat markings, which began to appear in domesticated tabby cats in the Middle Ages. The gene for a tabby coat dates back to the Ottoman Empire in Southwest Asia and later became common in Europe and Africa. The English term tabby originally referred to “striped silk taffeta”, from the French word tabis, meaning “a rich watered silk”. This can be further traced to the Middle French atabis (14th century), which stemmed from the Arabic term عتابية / ʿattābiyya.
The connection between tabby cats and Saint Mary stems from a Christian legend stating that a tabby cat comforted the infant Jesus by purring him to sleep, and in gratitude, Mary stroked the cat’s head, leaving the letter “M” on its forehead. This mark is said to have been passed down to all tabby cats since, signifying their blessed status. In addition, there is an Islamic apocryphal story which describes Saint Mary as having Mydriasis, and compares her with cats!
Mydriasis is the medical term for abnormal dilation of the pupil, when the black center of the eye is larger than usual, and doesn’t constrict normally in response to bright light.
English “Cat & Cut”
“Cat” is almost a homophone of “Cut”.
“Cat” and “Cut” have the same phonetic root: [k-t].
In Middle English, the word: “kitten” means: “to cut“. In Modern English, this very word means: “young cat“!
Indo-Semitic hypothesis:
The Indo-Semitic hypothesis maintains that a genetic relationship exists between Indo-European and Semitic languages, and that the Indo-European and the Semitic language families both descend from a common root ancestral language. These language families, share many cognate words.
Indo-European: Greek, Latin, Romance languages, Germanic, Celtic, Balto-Slavic, Indo-Iranian, among others.
Examples:
Latin: “sura” (= calf) ↔ Akkadian: “šūru” (= bull).
Proto-West Germanic *sparwō = sparrow
Ugaritic: 𐎕𐎔𐎗 (ṣpr) = sparrow
Aramaic: צִפְּרָא (ṣippərā) = sparrow
Hebrew: צִפּוֹר (ṣipur) = sparrow
Ancient Greek: (ταῦρος/tâu̯ros = bull).
Aramaic:(תּוֹר/tawrā = bull).
Proto-Semitic *ṯawr- (bull).
Old Irish “carn” (= horn).
Akkadian: “qarnu” (= horn)
Hebrew:“קֶרֶן/keren” (= horn)
Arabic: “qarn/قرن” (= horn).
Thus: The word “cut” can be an “Indo-Semitic word”.
Etymology of “Cut”:
English: ‘Cut’ is “From Middle English cutten, kitten, kytten or ketten (to cut), (compare Scots kut, kit (to cut)). Of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse *kytja, *kutta, (to cut), of uncertain origin. Akin to Middle Swedish kotta (“to cut or carve with a knife”) (compare dialectal Swedish kåta, kuta (to cut or chip with a knife), Norwegian Bokmål kutte (to cut), Norwegian Nynorsk kutte (to cut), Icelandic kuta (to cut with a knife).” [01]
In summation:
English Cat and Cut are doublets.
Cut is an ancient morpheme, the etymon of this morpheme is the Sumerian verb: “kid”.
The sememe of “kid” is: “slit” or “VERTICAL SLIT”.
Animal names are often a description of a distinctive feature of their physical appearance, check the pupils of your cat’s eyes under dazzling Sunshine.
End of Part One
The following questions will be addressed in the next part:
Who really was Mary Magdalene? Why was she portrayed as a prostitute? And why did she anoint Jesus’ feet?
What Mary has in common with Bastet? And why they both associated with ointment jars?
What are the etymologies of Inanna, Ishtar and St. Mary? And what do they have in common with Aphrodite and Venus?
Does the Talmud mention Mary mother of Jesus? And describes her blocked pupils?
More importantly, what all of this has to do with cats?
(Contributed article)
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