tabby

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈtæb.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French tabis (“rich watered silk”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Middle French atabis,^[2][3][5][6] from Medieval Latin attabi,^[2][5][6] from Arabic عَتَّابِيّ (ʿattābī),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from al-ʿAttābiyya, a quarter of Baghdad where the cloth was first made.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The quarter is said to be named after a prince ʿAttāb.^[4][6] Random House takes the English form as a back-formation from French tabis understood as a plural.^[6] The building material tabby is a separate word, from Gullah tabi and ultimately Spanish tapia “adobe wall” according to Merriam-Webster.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A silk taffeta, apparently striped at first, later also watered silk (1638).^[3][4][5][7]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective the word meant made of tabby, and then striped or brindled like it,^[4][5] hence tabby cat (1695).^[3][4] The shortened tabby for a striped cat is from 1774,^[3][4][7] and for a female cat, paired with tom, from 1826.^[4][7] It was also used for an elderly unmarried woman (1748) and a gossip,^[7][2][6] perhaps helped by Tabby as a pet form of Tabitha.^[4]

Timeline

• 1638 – a striped or watered silk.^[3][4][5][7]
• 1695 – tabby cat.^[3][4]
• 1748 – an elderly maiden lady.^[7]
• 1774 – a striped cat.^[3][4][7]
• 1775 – a building concrete of lime and shells (separate word).^[5]
• 1826 – a female cat.^[4][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A domestic cat with a coat striped or brindled in grey or tawny tones.
2. A domestic cat, especially a female.
3. A rich watered silk; also a fabric of plain weave.
4. (dated) A spinster; also a prying or spiteful gossip.
5. A building material of lime, sand and oyster shells mixed with water.

Adjective

1. Having light and dark stripes; brindled.
2. Made of or resembling watered silk.

Related words

• taffeta
• tomcat

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press