կատուականջ

Old Armenian

Etymology

From կատու (katu, cat) + ականջ (akanǰ, ear).

The meaning is uncertain. Found only in a medieval dictionary glossing Arabic آذَان الْفَأْر (ʔāḏān al-faʔr, Myosotis stricta, literally mouse ear), which is called մկնականջ (mknakanǰ, literally mouse ear) in Armenian. Perhaps the Arabic should be corrected to آذَان الْقَطّ (ʔāḏān al-qaṭṭ, literally cat's ear), which is found in Amirdovlatʿ as ազան ըլ ղըթ (azan əl ġətʻ) and explained as زَرَاوَنْد مُدَحْرَج (zarāwand mudaḥraj, Aristolochia rotunda).

Noun

կատուականջ • (katuakanǰ)

  1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
    1. forget-me-not, scorpion-grass (Myosotis gen. and spp.)
    2. cat's ear (Hypochaeris gen. and spp.
    3. smearwort (Aristolochia rotunda)
    • 9th or 10th century, with changes and additions in later centuries, Tʿargmanutʿiwn dełocʿ zor əntrel en imastasērkʿn ew kargeal yayl lezuacʿ [A Medieval Arabic–Armenian Botanical Dictionary] :
      ադանալփար (vars. արդանալփար, արտանալփար) = կատուականջ
      adanalpʻar (vars. ardanalpʻar, artanalpʻar) = katuakanǰ
      آذَان الْفَأْر (ʔāḏān al-faʔr) = katuakanǰ

Further reading

  • Ališan, Ġewond (1895) “կատուականջ”, in Haybusak kam haykakan busabaṙutʻiwn [Armenian Botany] (in Armenian), Venice: S. Lazarus Armenian Academy, § 1346, page 304
  • Greppin, John A. C. (1997) A Medieval Arabic–Armenian Botanical Dictionary (Studien zur armenischen Geschichte; 16), a separate print of Greppin 1995, Vienna: Mekhitarist Press, § 24, pages 29–30
  • Norayr N. Biwzandacʻi (1925) Kʻnnadatutʻiwn Haybusaki [A Critique of Haybusak] (Azgayin matenadaran; 109) (in Armenian), Vienna: Mekhitarist Press, page 164
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