CAT
Musio · cattus
Cats gambol and hunt. The painter added a mouse carrying grain, which the text never mentions. Not reproduced here.
VIEW THE FOLIO · UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN ↗Isidore gives the cat two names and a reason for each.
It sees so sharply that the gleam of its eyes overcomes the dark of night.
THE LAYERS · KEPT DISTINCT
ISIDOREETYMOLOGIAE XII.2.38
It is musio because it is the enemy of mice. Ordinary people call it cattus, from catching, or because it “sees”. A Greek derivation, “ingenious”, is also offered. (Feles is not Isidore’s term here, so it is no longer on the card.)
MANUSCRIPT WITNESSABERDEEN MS 24 · f.23v
The Aberdeen Bestiary repeats the entry and pictures cats playing and hunting, with an extra mouse carrying grain.
HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW
Isidore XII.2.38 checked in two editions. This locus was misreported once during research, so it was cross-checked.
Aberdeen f.23v heading, text and miniature checked.
Record levels, status labels, the streams diagram and the interface framing are authored by Make It Believable. They are not historical testimony.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW YET
- Any source before Isidore. Deeper layers have not been researched.