micifuz, mico

From: Rick McCallister
Message: 68001
Date: 2011-08-27

Does anyone know what the origin of Micifuz "pussycat, Puss-in-Boots" is? It's first attested c. 1639 in Lope de Vega's "Gatomaquia."  
I suspect that it's related to mico "monkey" in Modern Spanish, but "cat" in Old Spanish and also Galician according to the on-line Galician dictionary.
I suspect that both words go back to Latin mictus, mictiare "to piss" --i.e. referring to the male cat's habit of spraying his territory.