In our blog, we paid a lot of attention to the habits, breeds, characteristics of these animals. This time I would like to understand why the cat was nicknamed "the cat".
Originally from Africa
There are many versions about the origin of this word. With the Ancient Egyptians, it's somehow clearer. It looks like they imitated the meow of a cute animal, did not bother too much and called him "Mau". By the way, the Chinese also followed the example of the Egyptians. In Chinese, "cat" sounds like "mao", it seems, isn't it?
It's more complicated with us. Some experts are convinced that the word "cat" came to us from North Africa. This version finds a lot of confirmation, because the African relative of the European forest cat is considered the distant ancestors of our pussies.
Linguists explain that the familiar word "cat" is transformed from the North African "cadiz", as well as the French "sha", German "katze", English "cat".
Promotional video:
Latin roots
In the Middle Ages, European scholars saw a connection between the English cat and the Latin words captus and captat, which literally means "intelligent" and "carrying prey." The roots "kat-gat-kot" are found in many languages of the world.
However, we would like to turn to the Slavic languages. There is no version here either. So linguists found in the Proto-Slavic language (the progenitor of all Slavic languages) the word "kotka", from which the nouns "cat", "cat" and the verb "kitty" originated.
As it was with the ancestors
Let's turn to another, no less interesting explanation. The ancient Slavs led a fairly mobile lifestyle. Although it cannot be called nomadic, since all the farmers preferred to settle in one place, they still had to move from time to time.
In the Old Russian language, the word "kosh" meant a camp (part of an uyezd, inheritance) or a wagon train (a line of carts), as well as a temporary military camp. It is not difficult to imagine that wild cats have come to such places in search of food.
It is believed that the suffix and the ending "ka" in Old Church Slavonic means a living entity. It can be assumed that "cat" in literal translation from Old Russian is an animal living in a human dwelling.
Surely, our ancestors were much more practical than us and primarily appreciated cats for protecting their homes from rats and other pests. Roughly speaking - for maintaining comfort. Until now, cats are called the keepers of the hearth and the origins of this comparison must be sought in the distant past.
In Slavic mythology, the goddess Mokosh, the mother of filled koshas (wallets) and a rich harvest, was responsible for warmth and comfort. Experts say that the very word "kosh" comes from her name. In general, everything related to housing, hearth, comfort, well-being is contained in these three small letters. Agree, and the word "cat" itself sounds very affectionate, cozy, home-like. Probably here lies the clue of its origin.
There is another comic version, as if the word "cat" - has undergone changes "bump". By the way, it is in Polish that tailed beauties are called bumps.
So, supposedly, the name of the animal was associated with its love for sweet slumber and the habit of curling up into a ball. It seems to lie on the floor like a bump. Just not to stumble.
Until scientists and researchers come to a consensus, we are left to speculate and try to imagine how it really was. Which version is closer to you?
