chat

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃa/^[1]
• IPA (Canada): [ʃɑ]^[1]
• IPA (Canada): [ʃɔ]^[1]

Forms

chat m (plural chats, feminine chatte)^[1] The feminine chate is found in the first half of the 13th century, in the Roman de Renart; modern chatte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cattus (“cat”), a late Latin word first found in the 4th century (Palladius), with a feminine “catta”.^[2][3][4][5] It replaced fēlēs (see félin), which also meant the wild cat, the domestic cat being a late arrival in Rome.^[3][6] The further origin is uncertain: Bloch and Wartburg and Rey think it probably came from an African language, comparing Nubian “kadis” and Berber “kaddiska”; the Petit Robert also mentions a Gaulish origin.^[6][3][7] Littré thought it Celtic or Germanic.^[8] The REW gives the forms with /k/ (Picard “ca”) as northern and south-eastern French.^[9]

Cognate with Italian gatto, Occitan cat, Catalan gat, Spanish gato and Portuguese gato.^[9][7] Bloch and Wartburg take English cat and German Katze from the Romance word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in Chrétien de Troyes' Guillaume d'Angleterre (1160–85) and his Chevalier au lion (1177–80), meaning the cat.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It named both the species and the domestic animal, especially the male beside chatte.^[3] In the Middle Ages it was also a siege engine, a covered shed to protect besiegers (12th century).^[10][8][11] Mme de Sévigné has mon petit chat as an endearment (1672).^[2]

Proverbs and phrases are many: chat échaudé craint l'eau froide is already medieval (Chaz eschaudez iaue crient), ne pas trouver un chat is Voltaire's, and avoir un chat dans la gorge is recorded by the Académie in 1835.^[8][2] Rey explains écrire comme un chat (1853) by the slang greffier “cat”, punning on griffe, and donner sa langue au chat as a softening of jeter sa langue aux chiens.^[3][2] The chat à neuf queues (1845) translates English cat-o'-nine-tails.^[2] The game chat perché is in Labiche (1852).^[2]

Timeline

• 1160–85 – Chrétien de Troyes, Guillaume d'Angleterre.^[2]
• 12th century – A siege engine, Herman de Valenciennes.^[10]
• 13th century – The feminine chate.^[2]
• 1295 – Chattemite.^[6]
• 1532 – Rabelais' Chatz fourrez, judges.^[2]
• 1672 – Mon petit chat, Mme de Sévigné.^[2]
• 1835 – Avoir un chat dans la gorge.^[2]
• 1845 – Chat à neuf queues.^[2]
• 1852 – Chat perché.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cat, the small domestic feline; especially the male, the tomcat: chat de gouttière.^[12][1]
2. (zoology) Any animal of the cat family: chat sauvage.^[13][2]
3. (familiar) A term of endearment: mon chat.^[13][2]
4. A children's game of tag: jouer à chat, chat perché.^[13][1]
5. In phrases: il n'y a pas un chat, there is nobody there, avoir un chat dans la gorge, donner sa langue au chat, to give up guessing.^[3][1]

Word family

• chatte
• chaton
• chatière
• chatterie
• chattemite
• chatoyer
• chat-tigre
• langue-de-chat

Related words

• Late Latin cattus
• English cat

Usage notes

Chat pronounced /tʃat/ is a separate word, borrowed from English chat about 1997–1999 for an online conversation; the official recommendation is causette, and Quebec says clavardage.^[4][7][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 515a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)