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, Tʻargmanutʻiwn dełocʻ zor əntrel en imastasērkʻn ew kargeal yayl lezuacʻ [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