WHERE DID THE "NAME "PUSS" ORIGINATE?

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 274, 18 November 1936, Page 22

WHERE DID THE "NAME "PUSS" ORIGINATE?

Many interesting stories could be told of how the animals got their names. Puss and pussy eat are now pet names everywhere for the eat, but how did they come a.bout? And when did the christening ceremony occur? Many, many years ago the people of Egypt worshipped the eat. J hey thought she was like the moon because she was more bright at night, and because her eyes change as the moon changes, sometimes full and sometimes a crescent —as every boy and girl lover of auimals has noticed. So the people made an idol of the cats head, and named it 1 'aslit —the word they ga\e to the moon. Gradually the word changed to '"pas" and then to "pus," as we know it to-day. The cat walked softly into Egyptian history about 1000 B.C.* and somewhere thereabouts became an object of worship. Every deity in the land nourished by the Xile*had liis sacred animal, which was considered to be his "second life." The special animal selected was installed in part of the temple, and gave oracular responses. Our domestic eat is supposed to have come from Egypt, and the surmise is made that the Egyptians tamed the wild cat. Egypt was the granary of the ancient world, and, as mice come where grain comes, it seems natural to suppose that the Egyptians made use of tile eat to kill the mice.

The sacrednetss of the cat made it a crime to kill one, and when the cat died the family in which it lived went into mourning. One finds cats sculptured in stone, and in keeping with the honour cats were embalmed after death. There were two methods of embalming; that which was accorded to ordinary people, and that reserved for kings. , The cat was given the embalming of royalty. So that the cat might feel quite at home during the long centuries of the tomb, she was furnished with a nice collection of mummified mice. When one reflects npon it, the Egyptian worship of the cat may have had a very materialistic basis. During Xile floods every farm high enough would become an island to which mice, snakes and all kinds of vermin came for refuge, and the cat became <|he farmer's friend. It is singular that in Rome dogs were riot allowed to enter -the temple of Hercules, but cats were. Perhaps, as now, it was difficult to keep them out. Superstitions attaching to cats are found in every country. Malay and Java natives believe they can get rain by washing a cat. Among ourselves some people seriously affirm that when a cat ■washes behind its ears it is sure to rain.