meerkat
(ˈmɪəkæt)
Also 5 mercatte, 9 meercat, 20 mierkat.
[a. Du. meerkat monkey (= G. meerkatze), app. f. meer sea + kat cat.
Cf., however, Hindī markaṭ, Skr. markaṭa ape. Can the European word (already found in OHG. as mericazza) be an etymologizing perversion of an Oriental name?]
† 1. A monkey. Obs.
| 1481 Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 98, I wende hit had be a mermoyse a baubyn or a mercatte for I sawe neuer fowler beest. 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 191 There are diuerse straunge beastes bred in Assia,..Mercattes. |
2. A name given in S. Africa to two small mammals:
a. Cynictis penicillata, allied to the ichneumon.
b. The suricate,
Suricata tetradactyla, which is tamed as a pet.
| 1801 J. Barrow Trav. S. Africa I. 231 Upon those parched plains are also found a great variety of small quadrupeds that burrow in the ground, and which are known to the colonists under the general name of meer-cats. 1826 A. Smith Catal. S. Afr. Mus. 32 Meer Kat of the Dutch. Ryzæna Surikatta of the Naturalists. 1833 Ogilby in Trans. Zool. Soc. (1835) I. 34 The name Meer-kat..is of very general acceptation in South Africa, being applied indifferently to the present species [Cynictis], the Cape Herpestes, Ground Squirrels, and various other burrowing animals. 1890 A. Martin Home Life Ostrich Farm 158 There are two kinds of meerkats; one red, with a bushy tail like that of a squirrel, the other grey, with a pointed tail, and it is this latter kind which makes so charming a pet. 1901 O. Schreiner Thoughts on S. Afr. (1923) 19 There was a possibility that the red African mier-kat might ultimately creep back into its hole in the red African earth. 1949 Cape Argus Mag. 3 Sept. 1/9 To most people it is just a ‘mierkat’, but in reality it is a rodent, a squirrel, and quite different from the insect-eating, slender-tailed mierkat that is to be found in the same vicinity. |
| attrib. 1897 A. Page Afternoon Ride 62 Meerkat skins sewn together, as pouches for tobacco. |