What does it mean word for word?
αἴλουρος likely comes from a root connected to a 'waving tail', describing the animal's most distinctive movement.
Which one should you use?
Cats were far less common as household animals in classical Greece than dogs, so the word appears less often in everyday Greek literature than many other animal names.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
αἴλουρος is a plain descriptive noun, used the same way in casual remarks and in careful prose like Herodotus's history.
Is it said differently in some regions?
The word is attested in Ionic Greek through Herodotus, who describes Egyptian customs surrounding cats in his Histories.
How does it change in a sentence?
αἴλουρος is a masculine noun of the second declension, following a regular pattern shared with many common nouns.
How do you pronounce it?
αἴλουρος stresses the first syllable, with the diphthong αι pronounced like English 'eye'.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Learners sometimes assume cats were as central to Greek life as they were in Egypt, but the evidence suggests cats only slowly spread into Greece and Rome from Egypt.
When do people say it?
Herodotus reports that Egyptians mourned deeply when a household cat died, shaving their eyebrows in grief, a custom he found remarkable enough to record.
Did you know?
- Herodotus wrote that Egyptians shaved their eyebrows in mourning when a household cat died, a detail he found striking enough to record in his Histories.
- Cats spread into the Greek world gradually from Egypt, which is why the animal appears far less often in early Greek literature than dogs or horses.
Examples in context
- ὁ αἴλουρος καθεύδει.ho ailouros katheudei.The cat is sleeping.
- ὁ αἴλουρος τὸν μῦν θηρεύει.ho ailouros ton myn thereuei.The cat hunts the mouse.
- ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τιμῶσι τὸν αἴλουρον.en Aigypto timosi ton ailouron.In Egypt they honor the cat.
Example conversation
A trader named Phanes tells his friend Kallias about the cats he saw in Egypt.
- Kalliasτί εἶδες ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ?ti eides en Aigypto?What did you see in Egypt?
- Phanesπολλοὺς αἰλούρους ἐν τοῖς οἴκοις.pollous ailourous en tois oikois.Many cats in the houses.
- Kalliasτιμῶσιν αὐτούς?timosin autous?Do they honor them?
- Phanesναί, μάλα σφόδρα.nai, mala sphodra.Yes, very much so.
