Thursday Thirteen: Quatro


Hello Fur-friends!

Since Not The Mama says I'm too smart for my own good, I thought that today we would explore the word "cat" in other languages.

1. The Latin name for cat is felidae, and the trinomal scientific classification for the domesticated cat is felis silvestris catus. Wonder why there aren't more cats named Sylvester -- other than the obvious Putty Tat, of course. Have you ever known a kitty named Sylvester?

2. The Spanish name for a male cat is gato. Hence Chloe's suitor's name, Senor Gato means Mr. Cat. A senorita kitty would be gata. Closely related to the Spanish is the Italian: gatto.
Another language that separates male and female cats is Hebrew; male cats are KHaTooL' and female kitties are KHa'TooLaH' -- that's an awful lot of syllables for just "cat", if you ask me -- and they sound more Klingon than Hebrew, but I'm not a Jewish kitty. An online Klingon To English dictionary, by the way, states that the Klingon word for cat is Daq.

3. The French throw in an H to make cat = chat.

4. The Yiddish catalog cat as katalog. Do their libraries have card katalogs?

5. In Esperanto, a cat becomes kato. Is Esperanto a real language? Are there really Esperanto kitties out there?

6. German cats are called katze. So if Dr. Seuss had been German, we would have Der Katze in der Filzhut.

7. Russian kitties are koshka. Were there Bolsevik koshka?

8. In China, a cat is a mao. Meow from mao. However, just across a tiny stretch of water in Japan, a cat is neko. Is this pronounced neee-ko or necco, like necco wafers?

9. Korean cats are ko-yang-i. Can't you just see Mama-san yelling out the back door, "Ko-yang-i! Ko-yang-i!"

10. In Africa, a Swahili kitty is a paka.

11. Egyptian cats, in Arabic, are biss. But the ancient Egyptians said "ba" -- their cat goddess was Bast, goddess of the hearth and home, and her cult center was Bu-bastis.

12. If you're a Lord Of The Rings fan, you can go to www.nevrast.net and learn that the Elvish word for cat is miel.

13. And here at home in America, the word cat is interchangeable with kitty.
I prefer Bright Shining Center Of The Known Universe, myself, but I answer to Daphne.


If you have other translations for "cat", please leave them in a comment.
Hope you enjoyed this!

Meow for now ~ Daphne

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Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. Sadie, Sadie Married Lady

2. Chey's Place

3. Epiphany Sanctuary

4. Blog That Mommy!

(leave your link in a comment, and I’ll add you here!)


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you'll notice that Purrchance To Dream is listed now as an official Thursday Thirteen participant! Yay!

Mo and The Purries

17 comments :

  1. Oh Daphne, you're certainly the center of MY universe!

    And so smart!

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  2. Excellent list, Daphne! I learned a lot today. You are indeed a very smart kitty.

    Thanks for visiting my TT!

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  3. Merlin, my gato, you are the center of mine, too! ♥

    Sadie -- thanks for visiting here!
    And for the compliment! I've added you to my TT links! Meow!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous11:44 AM

    Nice list Daphne! Mine is up-

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  5. Bright Shining Center Of The Known Universe,
    I posted a Thursday Thirteen on my site, though I am not a participant, as yet.
    Some things aren't finished in one day, like Rome, and a good catnap.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chey: you did a great job with your TT -- I think your human bean sounds pretty nice, even if he won't let you eat too fast!

    Christine: congrats on joining in the Thursday Thirteen! Happy first TT!

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  7. The word for cat in my language (Filipino) is "pusa." :-D

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  8. lizza: thanks for your visit!
    Pusa. Good cat name! Do you have a pusa?

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  9. I saw your comment over at Gemini's, so thought I would come visit. You and your furmily are very purrty!

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  10. That is great! My cats will truly appreciate it!! Happy TT!

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  11. Anonymous5:00 PM

    Just droppin by fur the furst time. I enjoyed yur TT, it wuz furry interestin'!

    If yu get a chance come ofur fer a visit to ManxMnews.

    *ABBY(the manx)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5:01 PM

    It's manxmnews.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Daphne! Verrrrry interesting. Purrrfect info! :-)

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  14. Uh, Merlin? Is there a love triangle going on here? ;)

    Daphne, you are just too smart! Very interesting to hear all the words for cat in different countries!

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  15. Hi Daphnie! Merlin tolded us about your blog. How'd we miss it? We's furry glad to meet you! And fanks for all the words that mean catall ofur the world. I's gonna put news about that in the Cat Blogosphere weekend news so efurrycat can find out bout it! Oh, and we got your linky now too :)
    Purrrrrrrrrs,
    Sanjee, Boni, Mini, Pepi and Gree

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  16. Anonymous2:20 PM

    Hello there !
    In Belgium we say "poes" for female kitties and "kater" for male kitties. And often we just say "kat" or "poes" for all kitties... heh heh. But for some strange reason Bouncing Psycho calls me "mini-mormel".

    Licks and pawsies,
    Bean Sidhe from the House of Chaos

    ReplyDelete
  17. I don't have a pusa anymore, Daphne. But I used to have two named Billy and Bush. :-) Sadly, they've long since gone to catnip heaven.

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