tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33388174743038991062011-04-21T12:21:28.995-07:00writeathonnoreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3338817474303899106.post-4826937692854357272007-08-08T17:48:00.000-07:002007-08-08T18:57:19.768-07:00The word for cat sounds the same regardless of the language family--Uralic, Indo European, Hamitic/Nubian, Semitic, Basque, Chinese....they all call it a cat or a puss.<br /><br />How did you pick your cat's name--or your dog's name? <br /><br />Here's the history of cat names. Look at the origin in ancient times for the word 'cat.' We often call a cat 'puss' as in the children's story titled Puss 'N Boots. The word 'puss' used for 'cat' comes from the ancient Egyptian word 'pasht,' meaning cat. It was pronounced in Egypt, Persia, and all over the ancient Middle East as "Pishk" east of the Nile and "Pasht" west of the Nile. And today the word survives as Pishik in Yiddish and modern Persian (Farsi). It comes from a proto language that once included Indo-European and also Afro-Asiatic (Hamitic/Semitic). We often call a cat 'puss'or pussy cat. Guess how old that word for cat or cat's names is?<br /><br /><br /> Pasht, for cat, later evolved to Bast and then to Bastet, another<br /> cat-headed goddess in Egypt. In ancient Iraq and Persia (Iran) the word for cat was Pishik. In Arabic cat is kitt and khatte. See how the word for cat, held in high esteem and worshipped in the ancient middle east, is pronounced the same--either cat or pus (pishk) in Indo European, Semitic languages, Hamitic, Basque, and other languages. Points to a proto-language spoken 10,000 years ago in which everybody had the same word for 'cat.' Chai is the Chinese word for 'cat'. So the word for cat could be used in languages that existed before Indo-European or Hamitic-Semitic language groups were around. Even the non-Indo European Basque word 'catua' for cat or the Hamitic Nubian word for cat, 'katiska' seems to put emphasis on the sound of 'cat.'<br /><br /><br /> Here's the word for cat in other languages<br /><br /> Persian: Pushak (Pishik)<br /> Old Yiddish: Pishika (teenage female cat)<br /> Pisha (teenage male cat)<br /> Afghan: Pishak<br /> Kurdish: Pishig<br /> Lithuanian:Puize<br /> Irish: Pus (Puss)<br /> Sanskrit: Puccha, Pukha, Puccha<br /> Arabic: Kitt, Khatte<br /> Armenian: Kitta, Ketah<br /> Basque: Catua<br /> Catalonian: Gat<br /> Spanish: Gato<br /> Portuguese: Gato<br /> Italian: Gatto<br /> Cornish: Kath<br /> Welsh: Cath, Kath<br /> Syriac: Kato, Katto<br /> Turkish: Kati<br /> Swedish and Norwegian: Katt <br /> German: Katze<br /> Old Yiddish: Katz (Cohen-Tzaddik)<br /> Dutch: Kat<br /> French: Chat<br /> Burgundian: Chai<br /> Picardian: Ca, Cahe<br /> Polish: Kot<br /> Russian: Kots<br /> Chinese: Chai (Note same pronunciation, but unrelated languages, or is there an ancient common ancestor?) <br /> Nubian: Katiska, Kadiska<br /> Ancient Egyptian: Pasht, also Bast, later goddess, Bastet.<br /><br />Are there universal words for dog, wolf, tiger, bear, or lion also? What about for 'pets' in general?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/3338817474303899106-482693769285435727?l=oldsmaidsparties.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>writeathonnoreply@blogger.com