Re: Not "catching the wind " , or, what ARE we discussing?

----- Original Message -----
From: "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2008 9:26 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Not "catching the wind " , or, what ARE we discussing?


--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
<snip>

The cat itself might come from Africa, but looking for the word there
is a dead end. None of the three Coptic words for 'cat', including
the one used in the Coptic version of the Epistle of Jeremiah,
resembles <catta> at all. My best guess is that Latin <catta> in
both its senses, 'certain Pannonian bird (the wagtail?)'
and 'domestic cat', is borrowed from Messapic (or related Illyro-
Japygian) *katta, a hypocoristic form of a compound whose first
element *katt- is cognate with Lat. <quassus> 'shaken', and whose
second (unidentifiable) element means 'tail' or 'rear end', the
compound meaning 'having a shaken tail' or 'shaking its tail', much
like Greek <ailouros> 'waving-tailed'. It is near my bedtime, so
details of this hypothesis will follow later.

Douglas G. Kilday

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Have you looked for the implications of Arabic qiTTu-n?


Patrick

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