Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Cat" to "Celt"

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Cat" to "Celt" - Volume 5, Slice 5

CAT,1 properly the name of the well-known domesticated feline animal usually termed by naturalists Felis domestica, but in a wider sense employed to denote all the more typical members of the family Felidae. According to the New English Dictionary, although the origin of the word cat is unknown, yet the name is found in various languages as far back as they can be traced. In old Western Germanic it occurs, for instance, so early as from a.d. 400 to 450; in old High German it is chazza or catero, and in Middle German kattaro. Both in Gaelic and in old French it is cat, although sometimes taking the form of chater in the latter; the Gaelic designation of the European wild cat being cat fiadhaich. In Welsh and Cornish the name is cath. If Martials cattae refer to this animal, the earliest Latin use of the name dates from the 1st century of our era. In the work of Palladius on agriculture, dating from about the year a.d. 350, reference is made to an animal called catus or cattus, as being useful in 488 granaries for catching mice. This usage, coupled with the existence of a distinct term in Gaelic for the wild species, leaves little doubt that the word cat properly denotes only the domesticated species. This is confirmed by the employment in Byzantine Greek of the term or to designate domesticated cats brought from Egypt. It should be added that the of the Greeks, frequently translated by the older writers as cat, really refers to the marten-cat, which appears to have been partially domesticated by the ancients and employed for mousing. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 33239
Author: Various
Release Date: Jul 23, 2010
Format: eBook
Language: English