Words with Webster: Leopard

We have two fun Friday features for you today. First up is Real Cat Webster, who has a … spotted 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 “leopard.” Maybe you remember that I mentioned this word in my column a couple of weeks ago and said I’d do it soon. I’m doing it today.

A leopard is

a large strong cat (Felis pardus) of southern Asia and Africa that is usually tawny or buff with black spots arranged in broken rings or rosettes, is somewhat arboreal, and often lies in ambush for its prey that consists of most animals small or weak enough for it to overcome—called also panther. (Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, online)

You probably already knew that. And if you read my last post about the word “pard,” you might already suspect that “leopard” is a related word. Well, it is. Let’s go in our usual order, though, with dates and quotes.

“Leopard” has appeared with various spellings since at least about 1330, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The Online Etymology Dictionary says the English word has been around since the late 13th century and was used as a surname starting in the early 13th century. There were several good quotes. I picked these ones for you to show a couple of the different spellings:

Then answered Kyng Richard, In deed lyon, in thought libbard. (Richard Coer de Lyon, 2182 [about 1400])

There was a lyeparte there aboutes whiche destroyed the people of the contre. (Jacobus de Voragine, Golden Legende, trans. by William Caxton, 416/1 [1483])

Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion, and the spottes of thy Kindred, were Iurors on thy life. (Shakespeare, Timon of Athens (1623) iv. iii. 342 [about 1616])

This word comes to us from the Late Latin leopardus (“lion-pard, lion-panther”) and Greek leopardos, says the Online Etymology Dictionary. Back in those times, people thought the leopard was actually a hybrid of a lion and a panther, so that’s what they called it: a lion-panther. Now we know that a leopard is its own thing.

Look closely at the cat in this drawing of an Egyptian chariot...
(By Unknown author [CC BY-SA 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons. Original source is W.W. Loring, "A Confederate Soldier in Egypt," 1884.)

It's spotted, but it also seems to have a sort of mane.
Could it be an ancient lion-pard? 

One last note for today: A few commenters on my last post said that they thought “pard” would have something to do with “partner.” Well, it does, actually. “Pard” is also a colloquial term for “partner, chum.” This usage originated in the US and has been around since at least 1850. It is a shortened form of “pardener,” which has been around since at least 1795:

Improprieties, commonly called Vulgarisms... Pardener for Partner. (Benjamin Dearborn, The Columbian Grammar, 137 [1795])

Friendly Fill-Ins

And now it’s time for Friendly Fill-Ins, from 15andmeowing and The Four-Legged Furballs. The first two are answered by old SoLT this week, and the next two by Real Cat Paisley.

Old SoLT’s answers:

1. When it is hot, I like to sit on the deck (under the awning) and read. I enjoy getting out of the air conditioning, and it is nice to not be mildly to moderately to severely cold all the time.

2. I am looking forward to the end of this month. Because then it will be August, which is one month closer to my favorite season, fall.

Real Cat Paisley’s answers:

3. The theme song of my life would be “Margaritaville,” only I would re-title it “Niparitaville.”

4. There is no such thing as a free lunch. At least that’s what Mommy told me, but she feeds me lunch every day and I never pay her or anything, so I think that might be one of those alternative facts I keep hearing about.