I can't belive the number of posts I have been getting about this.  It
appears etymology is a hobby of more than a few of you.  First some general
statements.  Many asked for the references; my favorites are the "Oxford
Dictionary of Etymology" edited by C. T. Onions, J. T. Shiplet's "Dictionay
of Word Origins," Weekley's "An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English,"
Barnhart's "The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology," Skeat's "An Etymological
Dictionary of the English Language," and of course, Klein's "A Comprehensive
Etymological Dictionary of the English Language." Also quite good are "The
Oxford English Dictionary" and Partridge's "Origins."  Good Latin
dictionaries include Levine's "Follett's Latin Dictionary" and Simpson's
"Cassell's New Latin-English, English-Latin Dictionary."  Perhaps one of the
best Latin dictionaries, if you can find it, is Lewis's "A New Latin
Dictionary" dating back 80 years or so.  Almost without an exception, these
references confirm my last posts on the Etymology of the words Polecat,
Ferret, and Cat.
 
One person wrote to ask why I am interested in knowing the background of the
animals of the animals I am studying.  It *CAN* (not always, but sometimes)
can help you determine when something came into an area.  For example, the
cat.  I've already traced the origins back to the Late Latin as "catus or
cattus." Lewis and Levine define catus as a tom cat, while the etymology
texts define catto as a male cat, catta as a female cat, and cattus as cats
in general.  Those sources that discuss the origin of cattus suggest Greek,
Turkish, and ultimately an Egyptian origin (Oxford).  Most suggest the
origin of the word is lost in antiquity.  Basically, this means the word was
probably in use prior to written alphabets, and the earliest records are
those in Egyptian heiroglyphs.
 
Compare this to ferret.  The absolute earliest use found anywhere of ferret
is traced back to the Romans, in the 1st Century AD.  Now, I have already
discussed references by Aristophanes and Aristotle to what are probably
ferrets, but they used the word for polecats, and they only go back to 330
BC or so.  So what does this tell you?  While as a single piece of the
puzzle regarding ferret domestication it is rather weak, but it is still a
good supporting piece.  You don't invent a word for arrowhead, and then
invent a projectile point to go with it.  First you invent the object, in
this case a ferret, say maybe 2350 years ago, and then later, you start to
give it it's own name, say a couple of centuries down the road.
 
Now this is just a story, and it may or may not be true because no evidence
exists to test it.  What is true is the origin of the word for cat is lost
in antiquity, while the first recorded use of ferret (or rather it's Latin
equivelent) is about the time of the Romans.  So you can see, tracing the
origin of words for domestic animals can be useful in helping to determine
their domestication times.  At least roughly.
 
Back to cat.  Cat is one of those words, like deer and corn, that have a
general meaning prior to their more specific meaning.  For example, maize is
a New World plant, and has *never* been found in Europe prior to Columbus.
Yet scores of ancient European texts talk about people eating corn.  That is
because corn was a general term, much like coins or shoes.  It denoted a
category; grain.  Deer did likewise for game (and later for deer-like
animals).  Cat used to refer to any small cat-like carnivore.  The Latin for
this translation of cat is felis.  When the house cat was introduced in
later Roman times, it was given the specific name, cattus.  So in Late
Latin, you could call a house cat by a specific name, cattus, or by a
general name, felis.  (Kinda like saying you have three coins or three
nickles).  Because language is constantly evolving, the older term felis
went extinct (Latin *is* a dead language), and cattus became the norm.
Cattus is the root word for all the Latin languages; Gatto, Katze; Chat, Cat
etc., and felis became a word for scientists to use.  As the "Oxford
Dictionary of English Etymology" puts it, cattus superseded the older felis
on the introduction of the cat into Rome.
 
In any case, the idea of cat as a general term persisted past the middle
ages, and can be found describing weasels, polecats, martens, skunks, and
yes, even house cats as late as the 1700s.  So seeing it on the end of
polecat is not all that strange.
 
Last comment, and I'll leave this subject for good, even for private email.
Many people couldn't find the translations in their personal dictionaries.
Well, two things.  When using some dictionaries, it can be useful to
back-check.  In other words, if polecat is defined felis in the Latin, go
back and check felis.  Under felis could be cat, marten, ferret, polecat,
and weasel.  I have three latin dictionaries; in two of them, cat is defined
as felis on the English side, but if you go to the Latin side, you can find
cattus defined as tomcat.  Also, Latin dictionaries generally define classic
Latin.  Most don't discuss Late Latin for the same reasons most English
dictionaries don't discuss Middle or Early English.  You define the stuff
you are interested in.  I suggest finding a more complete or academic
dictionary; check out the references at the top of this post.
 
As far as I am concerned, subject closed, at least from my time limits.
 
Bob C and the 21 MO Fur-Gatos
[Posted in FML issue 2062]