Palabrita#002: MA-U-LLAR
the crying sound made by a cat
Trivia: In Spanish, the formal verb which names the miaulement of cats is “miar” or “maullar”: «El gato está mi-an-do», «El gato está mau-llan-do». However, the written sound differs slightly depending on the language of its master.
The onomatopoeia in Spanish would be “Miau-Miau” (forcing the pronunciation of each vowel: I-A-U). However, in other cultures, like Asian or Arabic, they tend to reproduce the same sound according to the resonances already existing in their cultural lexicon. For example Muwaa’ for Arabian, Meo for Vietnamese, Meou for French.
Etymology: source OED
meow (n.)
representation of cat sound, 1842, earlier miaow, miau, meaw (1630s). Of imitative origin, compare French miaou, German miauen, Persian maw, Japanese nya nya, Arabic nau-nau, and Joyce’s mrkgnao. In Chinese, miau means “cat.” As a verb in English by 1630s, meaw, also meawle. Compare Old French miauer “to meow, caterwaul.” Related: Meowed; meowing.
Variants fo MAULLAR.
- (sp) Mayar, Miar.
- (En) To meow, (also UK: miaow), caterwaul,
- (Fr) miauler.
#palabritish: Maullar
What does one cat’s meow sound like in another cat’s head? A Chinese cat and a German one courting each other with a different meow? I want to speculate that we humans are very limited by our sonic culture. That, when it comes to reproducing the language of our pets, our brains only perceive the sound that lies embedded in our everyday conversations. New sounds are terribly difficult to emulate. Like the double RR (carro) in Spanish, or the Ç (garçon) in French, or even, for a Latino like me, to correctly pronounce the sound of the U, which in fact is not “llu” or “yu”, but “iu”. Whatever the truth, cats don’t seem bothered by the way we meow at them, as long as they feel beloved, even if they never manage to miaow in life.
