Old word, which spread together with the animal millennia ago, apparently ultimately of Afroasiatic origin, later borrowed into Proto-Indo-European. The Latvian term was apparently influenced by the Germanic forms: kaķis < *katis, from feminine *kate (cf. dialectal katene (“kitten”)), at first in Couronian dialects, later in other dialects and in the standard language. Cognates include Lithuanian katė̃, Old Prussian catto ([kato]), Russian кот (kot), Middle High German, Middle Dutch katte, German Katze, English cat, Latin cattus, catta.