# cattus
## Latin
### Alternative forms

* catus
* gatus

### Etymology

Unknown; perhaps borrowed from a Nilo-Saharan or Afroasiatic language, compare Nubian kadī (“cat”), Arabic قِطّ (qiṭṭ, “cat, tomcat”), Classical Syriac ܩܛܘ (qaṭṭu, “cat”), or possibly a Wanderwort, compare Proto-Uralic *käďwä (“female (of a fur animal)”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkat.tus/, [ˈkät̪ːʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkat.tus/, [ˈkät̪ːus]

### Noun

cattus m (genitive cattī); second declension
* (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) a cat
** c. 4th-5th century, Servius, In Vergilii Aeneidem commentarii 5.610.1:Nulli visa ad ipsum retulit numen: nam arcus semper videtur: quem non Irim, sed viam Iridis dixit. alii celeritatis esse volunt 'nulli visa'. notandum sane etiam de Iride arcum genere masculino dicere Vergilium: Catullus et alii genere feminino ponunt, referentes ad originem, sicut 'haec cattus' et 'haec gallus' legimus.
** 1558, Martin Luther, Theologiae Martini Lutheri Trimembris Epitome, De Tertio Statu Hominis:Affirmant quod quanto sceleratior es, tanto citius Deus gratiam infundit: si autem adornes te, ut cattus bonis operibus, ut te Deus acceptet, nihil efficias.They assert that the more a miscreant you are, the sooner God showers grace upon you: if, however, you should adorn yourself, like a cat, with good works, so that God accepts you, you shall bring about nothing.
** 1656, Guillaume Pepin, Conciones Mysticae et Morales in Septem Psalmos Poenitentiales, page 38:[...] illa accepit bovem & cattum, et utrumque duxit ad forum. Cumque quiddam venisset qui bovem emere veller. Illa respondit. Nullus habebit bovem, nisi etiam emat & cattum. Cumque ille dixisset non velle emere cattum, abiit. Et statim venit alius & interrogat quanti pretii utrumque foret. Illa dixit se velle vendere cattum pro una marcha argentari, sed bovem pro denario, & sic convenerunt.[...] she took the ox and the cat, and led both to the market. Anytime someone came who wanted to buy the ox, she responded: None shall have an ox, unless besides he also buys a cat. Any time someone said he did not want to buy a cat, he left. And immediately another came and asked what price for each. She said she wanted to sell a cat for one silver mark, but an ox for a denarius, and so they came to an agreement.

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Synonyms

* fēlēs, mūsiō, mūriceps, mūrilegus, pilāx, mūscipula

#### Related terms

* catta f

#### Descendants

* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: gattu, battu, cattu
* Italo-Dalmatian:
** Corsican: ghjattu, gattu, ghiattu
** Dalmatian: cuot
** Istriot: gato
** Italian: gatto
** Sicilian: gattu, jattu
** Venetan: gato
* Rhaeto-Romance:
** Friulian: gjat
** Ladin: giat
** Romansch: giat, gat
* Gallo-Italic:
** Piedmontese: ciat
** Romagnol: gat
* Northern Gallo-Romance:
** Franco-Provençal: chat
** Old French: chat (see there for further descendants)
* Southern Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: gat
** Occitan: cat, chat, gat
* Ibero-Romance:
** Old Galician-Portuguese: gato
*** Galician: gato
*** Portuguese: gato
**** Annobonese: gatu
**** Kabuverdianu: gátu
**** → Kimbundu: ngatu
**** →? Gulf Arabic: قطو (gaṭu)
** Old Leonese:
*** Asturian: gatu
*** Extremaduran: gatu
*** Leonese: gatu
*** Mirandese: gato
** Old Spanish:
*** Ladino: gato
*** Spanish: gato
* Borrowings:
** → Arabic: (from Berber languages)
*** Libyan Arabic: قَطُّوس (gaṭṭūs)
*** Tunisian Arabic: قَطُّوس (qaṭṭūs)
*** Maltese: qattus
** → Basque: katu
** → Koine Greek: κάττος (káttos), masculine of κάττα (kátta)
*** Byzantine Greek: κάττος (káttos) / κάτος (kátos) / γάτος (gátos)
**** Modern Greek: γάτος (gátos)
**** → Ottoman Turkish: كدی (kedi)
***** Turkish: kedi
** → Proto-Celtic: *kattos (see there for further descendants)
** → Proto-Germanic: *kattuz (uncertain) (see there for further descendants)
** → Proto-Slavic: *kotъ (see there for further descendants)
** → Translingual: Catus (obsolete)

### References

* ↑ Mallory, J. P., Adams, D. Q. (2006) The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world, Oxford University Press, page 141
* ↑ Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Katze”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 362
* ↑ Guus Kroonen (2013) “*kattōn-”, in Alexander Lubotsky, editor, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 11)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 281-282
* ↑ "cattus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* ↑ cattus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* ↑ cattus in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016