m., kattar, ketti, pl. kettir, acc. köttu, mod. ketti; [A. S. and Engl. cat; O. H. G. chatza; Germ. katze; Dan. kat; Swed. katt]:—a cat, originally the martin cat or weasel; engi dynr verðr af hlaupi kattarins, Edda 19; hross eigu menn eigi at eta ok köttu, K. Þ. K. 134; mýss svá stórar sem kettir ungir vaeri, Ó. H.; liggja hjá sem köttr í hreysi, Orkn. 104; sér köttrinn músina, Ísl. ii. 309; rífast eins og gráir kettir, to live a cat and dog life, a saying; hvatr, blauðr, breyma k. (q. v.); a tom-cat is called fress, högni, steggr; a she-cat, bleyða; a black tom-cat, kolr; a white tom-cat, mjaldr; the pet name is kisa, kis kis, q. v.; hreysi-k. (q. v.), the ermine cat. It seems that in the Saga time (10th century) the cat was not yet domesticated, for passages such as Vd. ch. 28, Eg. S. Einh. ch. 10, and the story in Edda (Thor lifting the giant’s cat) apply better to the wild cat or the martin cat; and the saying in Ísl. ii. l. c. (sees the cat the mouse?) probably refers to the weasel and the field mouse; but that early in the 12th century the cat was domesticated even in Icel. is shewn by the story of the chess-players and the kittens leaping after a straw on the floor, told in Mork. 204, 205; for a curious legend of the genesis of the cat, see Maurer’s Volks. 190; kattar sonr, a cat’s son (the ermine cat), a bastard, was a term of abuse, Hkv. 1. 18:—a nickname, Landn.; hvers son ertú?—Ek em Kattarson,—Hverr var sá kottrinn? Fms. vi. 390.

COMPDS: kattarauga, kattarrófa, kattarskinn, kattartunga.