cat:

"A well-known carnivorous quadruped (Felis domesticus) which has been long domesticated, being kept to destroy mice, and as a house pet".

Martial's attribute might incline us to a Slavonic or Teutonic origin: c 75 Martial CXVIII. 69 "Pannonices nobis dedit Umbria catttas".
1000 - "Muriceps, uel musio, murilegus, catt".
c 1520 - "The mouse hounter or catte is an onclene beste, & a poyson enemy to all myse".
Shakespeare, Henry IV - "I am as Melancholy as a Gyb-cat". [kocur]
fig. "As a term of contempt for a human being; esp. one who scratches like a cat; a spiteful or backbiting woman".
1670 B.E. Dict. Cant. - "Crew, Cat, a common whore".
1778 Johnson - "She was a speaking cat".
1840 Marryat - "Her mother called me an old cat".
slang - prostitute."

A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles, ed. by Sir James Murray, Oxford 1893, hasło cat (gdyby ktoś miał wątpliwości, co to jest kot).