--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
>
> The related words in the Romance languages; such as, Spanish and
Portuguese gato, gata and Italian gatto, gatta, came from Medieval
Latin gattus, gatta, variants of Late Latin cattus, catta. French
chat, chatte came directly from Late Latin cattus, catta. Late Latin
cattus and catta are possibly loan words from an African language:
Nubian kadis, "cat".
Turkish kedi 'cat'; Alb macë 'cat', maç-ok 'male cat, tomcat' and dac
'male cat; child born out of wedlock, bastard'. Much more related to
Latin form is Alb kot-ele 'kitten, kitty, puss'.
Konushevci