猫

猫 (Kangxi radical 94, 犬+8, 11 strokes, cangjie input 大竹廿田 (KHTW), four-corner 4426₀, composition ⿰犭苗)

• 𢵝, 𫫯

• KangXi: page 714, character 27
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 20535
• Dae Jaweon: page 1127, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1352, character 1
• Unihan data for U+732B

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *mrew) : semantic 犬 + phonetic 苗 (OC *mrew).

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

• Go-on: みょう (myō)^{←めう (meu, historical)}
• Kan-on: びょう (byō, Jōyō)^{←べう (beu, historical)}; ぼう (bō)^{←ばう (bau, historical)}
• Kun: ねこ (neko, 猫, Jōyō)

⟨neko₁⟩ → /neko/

From Old Japanese. Cognate with Miyako にか (nika, “cat”, Tarama and Minna dialects) via unknown Japonic substratum.

A comparison of accent patterns between the dialects shows some confusion:

• One group of dialects behaves as if <LF> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: many dialects with the Tokyo type accent, including the standard Japanese in Tokyo, pronounce this word with an <HL(L)> pitch pattern, and in some non-mainstream Keihan type dialects as well, this word has a corresponding <LF> pitch pattern.
• Another group of dialects behaves as if <LL> was the Heian Kyoto accent pattern: the mainstream Keihan type dialects pronounce this word with an <HL> pitch pattern, and in a few of the Tokyo type dialects, this word has a corresponding <LH(L)> pitch pattern.

As a result, this term is one example of words that have the same pitch accent pattern between Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto. The confusion seems to be due to an impression that the term comes from a compound word origin.

One theory explains that neko is shortened from earlier 猫(ねこま) (nekoma), but neko has a first appearance in literature earlier than that for nekoma.

First attested in the 新訳華厳経音義私記 (Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki) of 794.

794, Shin'yaku Kegonkyō Ongi Shiki

猫狸 [...] ニ又漢云野貍、倭言上尼古、下多〻既

Cat and raccoon dog, [...] both of them are called 野貍 (yari) in Chinese; the former is called 尼古 (⟨neko₁⟩ → neko) while the latter is called 多〻既 (⟨tatake₂⟩ → tatake) in Japanese.

• (Tokyo) ね​こ [néꜜkò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ne̞ko̞]

• Audio

  (file)

猫(ねこ) • (neko)  (counter 匹)

1. [from 794] a cat

   猫(ねこ)が二(に)匹(ひき)居(い)る。

   Neko ga nihiki iru.

   There are two cats.

   家(いえ)には猫(ねこ)が三匹(さんびき)います。

   Ie ni wa neko ga sanbiki imasu.

   There are three cats in the house.

According to the 和名類聚抄 (Wamyō Ruijushō), 931–938, 猫(ねこ) (neko) is short for this word.

931–938, Minamoto no Shitagō, Wamyō Ruijushō (book 7, page 56)

猫: 野王案、猫、音苗、禰古麻、下總本有和名二字興河海抄引此合、本草和名同訓、或省云禰古、新撰字鏡、狸、禰古、按狸一名猫、見本草和名、似虎而小、熊捕鼠為糧

One theory describes the first mora <ne> as onomatopoeia for the sound a cat makes (cf. にゃ (nya); compare English mew, meow). The last two morae <ko₁ma> might accord with 熊(くま) (kuma, “bear”) if it were from Proto-Japonic *kòmà, in the sense of "four-legged animal". The Heian Kyoto accent of this word is <LHL>; note that in compound words for species names, the pitch pattern may be simplised to <-HL> when the final element is a 2-mora noun, and the presence or absence of this phenomenon could explain the accent confusion in neko. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

However, nekoma is first cited to 918 in the 本草和名 (Honzō Wamyō, the oldest surviving dictionary of medicine in Japan),[3] while neko is first attested in 794.

c. 918, Honzō Wamyō

家狸、一名猫、和名禰古末

• IPA^(key): [ne̞ko̞ma̠]

猫(ねこま) • (nekoma) 

1. [918–???] (obsolete) a cat

• Minamoto, Shitagō; Kyōto Daigaku Bungakubu Kokugogaku Kokubungaku Kenkyūshitu (931–938) Shohon Shūsei Wamyō Ruijushō: Honbunhen (in Japanese), Kyōto: Rinsen, published 1968, →ISBN.

From Middle Chinese 猫 (MC mˠiᴇu). Recorded as Middle Korean 貓/묘 (myo) (Yale: myo) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Wikisource 猫, eumhun 고양이 묘 (goyang'i myo)

1. Hanja form^? of 묘 (“cat”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

• On (unclassified): まやー (mayā, 猫)

猫 (hiragana まやー, rōmaji mayā)

1. cat

• “まやー・まやあ【猫】” in JLect - Japonic Languages and Dialects Database Dictionary, 2019.

猫 (hiragana まやー, romaji mayā)

猫 (hiragana まやー, romaji mayā)

1. cat

猫 (hiragana みゃんか, romaji myanka)

猫 (hiragana みゃんか, romaji myanka)

1. cat