From: Rick McCallister
Message: 49209
Date: 2007-06-30
>____________________________________________________________________________________
> I don't know how accurate is the below site, but
> based on it we have
> (mainly) three roots for CAT:
>
> *mV-
> *pV(s)-
> *cVt-
>
>
> http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/say_cat.htm
> ===============================================
> Arabic : kitte
> Armenian : gatz
> Basque : catua
> Chinese : miu or mau
> Dutch : kat
> English : cat
> Egyptian : miw
> Eskimo : Pussi
> Estonian : kass
> Filipino : cat
> Finnish : kissa
> French : chat
> Gaelic : pishyakan
> German : katti, katze or ket
> Greek : catta or kata
> Gypsy : muca
> Hawaiian : popoki
> Hindi : billi
> Icelandic : kottur
> Italian : gatto
> Japanese : neko
> Latin : cattus or felis
> Norwegian : katt
> Polish : kot or gatto
> Portuguese : gato
> Pusa : cat
> Rumanian : pisica, m^at,a
> Russian : koshka (female); kot (male)
> Slovenian : maèka; muca
> Spanish : gato
> Swahili : paka
> Swedish : katt
> Ukrainian : kitska (female); kit (male)
> Welsh : kath
> Yiddish : chatul or gattus
>
>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "alexandru_mg3"
> <alexandru_mg3@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen"
> <tgpedersen@> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > It is an interesting question why cats
> weren't common
> enough
> > in
> > > > the ancient Indo-European world to have a
> general I.E. name.
> > >
> > > It seems to be older that the IE invasions.
> > >
> > > Trask: The History of Basque, p. 265
> > > "
> > > Sex-marking is not common in Basque, except by
> lexical means, as
> in
> > > gizon 'man' and emakume 'woman', behi 'cow' and
> zezen 'bull'. The
> > > adjectives eme 'female' (a loan from Gascon) and
> or 'male' are
> > > sometimes attached to animal names when the
> distinction is thought
> > > necessary: katar 'tomcat', kateme 'female cat'
> {katu 'cat'), oilo
> > > 'hen', oilar 'cock, rooster'.
> > > "
> > >
> > > Besides katu Basque also has kathu and gatu;
> Trask assumes (as
> > always)
> > > a loan from Latin. For some reason Italian
> (gatto) and several
> > Romance
> > > dialects seems to have sporadically the same
> lenition which is
> > typical
> > > of Basque (but which katar/katu seeme to have
> escaped).
> > > German Kater, Du. kater "tomcat"
> > > German Katze, Du. kat "cat"
> > > That suffix -er "male" is very rare in German
> and Dutch.
> > > Perhaps = -er in Engl. gander?
> > >
> >
> > 1. We have Slavic cotU too : Does somebody knows
> its etymology?
> >
> > 2. Romanian cotoi 'tomcat' is considered 'from
> Slavic + oi'
> >
> >
> > Could we assume an 'European' root *kat- ?
> >
> > Marius
> >
>
>
>