About Me

My photo
Washington, United States
loves: you win if you guessed "pets" and "museums". Also books, art history, travel, British punk, Korean kimchi, bindis, martinis, and other things TBD. I will always make it very clear if a post is sponsored in any way. Drop me a line at thepetmuseum AT gmail.com !

Monday, August 29, 2011

how cats got to england: first time i've heard this one

Cats are believed to have been brought first into England from Cyprus by merchants who came to Cornwall for tin. It is generally supposed that the name is Teutonic. If so, it is a curious coincidence that the modern Persian name for cat is catio.

-- from Words, facts, and phrases; a dictionary of curious, quaint, and out-of-the-way matters, Eliezer Edwards (Chatto & Windus, 1882), p. 104. I have been trying to find any other reference to this theory, which is totally new to me. So far, nothing. Anyone else ever heard this one?

10 comments:

Katnip Lounge said...

My husband is gonna be REALLY sad, he INSISTS he invented the word "Catio".
heh heh.

curator said...

You know, I was thinking of you when I posted that!

parlance said...

Well, that's interesting. If okay with you, I'll link to this post from my second blog - the one about words.

cate said...

Hmmm didn't know that!

DamnCuteBunny said...

Huh! And I always thought it was the aliens responsible for the pyramids that spread cats all over the world. Not to mention they're magical creatures that can probably teleport wherever they like.

curator said...

Hi Parlance - Of course you can post that. I'd be honored.

curator said...

Hi Damn Cute Bunny - heh heh, I'm pretty sure cats can teleport.

Everycat said...

We've never heard that one before. But we know that the word cat derives from many similar words around the world. There's ana ancient indo-eurasian (?) word for cat "ghad" which apparently means - to grasp.

The ape says that the common word for cat in the UK "puss" comes from the Indian word "pasht" which was a sort of descendent of the word "Bast" - the cat god from Egypt

Our ape does go on and on and on...

Gerry & Oliver

curator said...

Ooh! Gerry & Oliver, that is some excellent information!

joanne said...

There is a body of water outside Plymouth harbour on Devon/Cornwall border called Catte Water. So maybe??