Words with Webster: Tortoiseshell, Plus Friendly Fill-Ins

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up is Real Cat Webster, who has a colorful word to share. After that, it’s on to Friendly Fill-Ins!

Words with Webster

Hi, everybody! It’s me, Real Cat Webster. Welcome to Words with Me. Today’s word is “tortoiseshell.” I got the idea for this word because Paisley told me I better do it or she’d whap me. She’s bossy sometimes. Anyway, most of you probably recognize that, in reference to cats, “tortoiseshell” means a certain color pattern or a cat with that pattern:

of, relating to, or being a color pattern of the domestic cat consisting of patches of black, orange, and cream (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11^th ed.)

I checked in the Oxford English Dictionary, which says that the earliest known use of “tortoiseshell cat” in print was in 1840:

Oh, what a pretty little kitten! what a beautiful little dear tortoiseshell! (Peter Parley’s Annual, 113)

And did you know that there is a tortoiseshell butterfly too? Our UK friends might know this, because according to UK Butterflies, the small tortoiseshell (Nymphalidae aglais) is a familiar garden butterfly there. They are very pretty, aren't they?

Small tortoiseshell butterfly.
Photo via Adobe Stock.

But back to the word. Certain cats and butterflies are called tortoiseshells because their coloring resembles that of ornamental material made from the shell of some tortoises, especially the hawksbill sea turtle. This material was used as far back as ancient times for jewelry and other ornamentation. It is quite beautiful, but its use is obviously really bad for the hawksbill sea turtles, which are critically endangered. Legal trade in tortoiseshell ended in 1993, but illegal trade continues (US Fish & Wildlife, 2015).

Tortoiseshell has been used to make many
beautiful things, like this dragon ornament
from China's Qing Dynasty, ca. 1736-1795.
Photo by Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

But we think tortoiseshell is most beautiful when it
is still on the turtle.
Hawksbill Sea Turtle photo via Adobe Stock.

On a lighter note, we found this kind of fun quote about tortoiseshell from Charles Dickens:

The tortershell would have affected the brain. (Nicolas Nickleby xv.131, 1839)

We’re not sure of the context of this quote, but we do know a certain tortoiseshell kitty who can sometimes affect the brain!

But back to the word again. Of course “tortoiseshell” was originally used to refer to the shell of a tortoise. That usage shows up in 1601, in this quote that is actually a translation from Pliny’s History of the World:

Among the Islands principally in the red sea, they use Tortoise shells…for boats and wherries. (I.ix.x.241, P. Holland, translator)

Obviously our word is a compound of "tortoise" and "shell," so I went to the Online Etymology Dictionary to see where the word “tortoise” came from. This word may have ultimately come from the Late Latin tartaruchus, which means “of the underworld.” Or perhaps it is from the Latin tortus, meaning “twisted” (referring to tortoises’ feet). “Shell” came from Old English sciell, Proto-Germanic skaljo, Middle Low German schelle, and the Proto-Indo-European root skel, “to cut.”

Hmm.… Is “shell of the underworld” an apt description of a tortie cat? Discuss.

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and McGuffy’s Reader. They are a fun way to learn a little bit about the authors of the blogs you read. The first two questions, answered by Real Cat Paisley this week, are from Ellen of 15andmeowing, and the next two, answered by old SoLT, are from Annie of McGuffy’s Reader.

Real Cat Paisley’s answers:

1. Trust is earned and can be lost. For example, when I am starving and Mommy tries to give me food that is icky, I lose some of my trust in her.

2. I would protest an empty food dish. Oh wait, I already do that at least twice a day!

Old SoLT’s answers:

3. I have been almost constantly cold since December. It is really getting on my nerves!

4. Right now, I hope it’s good and cloudy today so that groundhog doesn’t see even a hint of his shadow. Come on, spring!