cat < ?

[Steve Gustafson]

Jasmin Harvey wrote:

> From: "B. Daverin" <bdaverin at best.com>
> To: "Birrell Walsh" <birrell at well.com>

> That the word is native there is confirmed by the Gaulish name _Cattos_ and
> the tribal name _Chatti_ or _Chattes_ ("the Cats" -- ie, "the Wildcats")
> from the Celtic-Germanic border country.

This strikes me as mildly improbable, if only because:

--- the -Chatti- were apparently not Celts, but Germans;

--- As Germans, IIRC they are mentioned by Caesar.  They existed during
the early Empire, and were one of the tribes implicated in the
Teutoburger Wald defeat that kept the Romans out of Germany.

--- The name of their tribe, subjected to the ordinary vicissitudes of
High German words, gave the name to the region of Hesse.  [Apparently
the Romans ran into them at a time when /k/ > /x/ > /h/ was only halfway
done.]

--- "Cat" exists in German and other Germanic languages independently.
This may be a later reborrowing, but if the word already existed in
Germanic, we'd expect to see -hesse- or '*hett' meaning 'cat' as well.

--
Steven A. Gustafson, attorney at law
Fox & Cotner:  PHONE (812) 945 9600   FAX (812) 945 9615
http://www.foxcotner.com

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