--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia" <originalpatricia@...>
wrote:

> PS - just a thought - any one know if the Norse-Men kept cats - not

a joke this

> they had farms and creatures that needed hay and also straw for the

bedding

> Cats have always been handy - dealing with rats 'n' all

I think they must have done. The Old Norse word for "cat" was
'köttr', declined like 'skjöldr'. Here are the results of a search
for 'köttur', + the older form 'köttr', in Old Icelandic texts.

http://www.lexis.hi.is/corpus/leit.pl?lemma=k%F6ttur&ofl=&leita=1&flokkar=Fornrit&m1=katta+kattanna+kattar+kattarins+ketti+kettina+kettinum+kettir+kettirnir+k%F6tt+k%F6ttinn+k%F6ttum+k%F6ttunum+k%F6ttur+k%F6tturinn+kettenum+kietter+kiettinumm+kottur+kotturinn+k%F8ttinn+k%F6ttr+k%F6ttrinn+k%F8ttur+k%F8tturinn&l1=Leita&lmax=1

The results are taken from various texts, some with modern spelling,
some with normalised Old Norse/Icelandic spelling. If you're ever
curious about how a word was used, you can use this website to search
specific types of texts. Clicking on 'ný leit' "new search" takes you
to the search page [
http://www.lexis.hi.is/corpus/leit.pl?allt=&hreinsaform=N%FD+leit ].
Type in the word you're interested in the top left box, click on the
square to the left of 'einnig gamlar orðmyndir' "also old word-forms",
then click on 'sækja orðmyndir' "look for word-forms". If the program
recognises the word, the it should appear in all its possible forms in
the long box at the bottom. If you want to limit the search to
medieval texts, click on the square to the left of 'fornrit' "old
texts". Then click on 'leita' underneath this long box.

As you can see, Köttr was also used as a name and a nickname. Have
you looked at Gordon's reading selection No. 5, "The Norse Discovery
of America"? In section E, "The Greenland Prophetess" (from Eiríks
saga rauða), the 'spákona' "prophetess" wears catskin gloves,
'kattskinnsglófar' (last line of the first paragraph on p. 56).

LN