Hello Everyone,
Where does the word pussy come from when referring to kitty cats?
“Pussy” is the diminutive of “puss”, which is the slightly older form of the word. It turns up in English from about 1529, according to the OED, as “puss” or “puss-cat”, with “pussy” coming along about 30 years later. There are similar words in Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, Lithuanian and Irish, all used either as a word for a cat, or as an interjection to call a cat. “Further etymology uncertain”, according to the OED, but it’s theorised that “puss” started out as a call to a cat, and only later became a name for a cat.
According to Wiki, “Puss in Boots”:
“The oldest record of written history dates from Italian author Giovanni Francesco Straparola, who included it in his The Facetious Nights of Straparola (c. 1550-53)”
Yes, but his story was called i]Costantino Fortunato* - the word “puss” did not appear. (Unsurprisingly, since he was writing in Italian, and the word has no Italian form.) This story wasn’t called “Puss in Boots” until an English version appeared in 1729.
That would make sense why it added a -y. I’m pretty sure that’s why we have “kitty.” Two syllable words that end in y are easy to use for calling.
Thanks for the information.!
Going the other way on this, where did the other uses of the word pussy come from and are the derived from the cat?
Puss was used for mouth or lips. I’m just speculating that it would also be used for vagina. I think puss is Irish in origin.
There was another thread about this awhile back. I believe the consensus was nobody knew for sure. But possibly related to the French word for pouch, pouchet.