»ailurophile

I have stupidly always figured that the scientific words for cat came from the Latin felix, for "happy"; no, the words from the Latin feles, felis, itself of uncertain origin, and meaning "cat, marten" (interesting conflation, that).

The Greek word for cat is ailouros, whence ailurophile: one who loves cats. So much for my expensive classical education.

salim filed this under lingo at 08h36 Monday, 05 February 2007 (link) (Yr two bits?)