The story
- Middle Dutch · derived frommeercatte
- Dutch · derived frommeerkat“guenon [monkey]”
- Afrikaans · borrowed frommeerkat
- English todaymeerkat
From Afrikaans meerkat, transferred use of Dutch meerkat (“guenon [monkey]”), from Middle Dutch meercatte (literally “sea cat”), compare English mercat. Sometimes suggested to be influenced by or derived from an Indian source; compare Hindi मर्कट (markaṭ, “ape, monkey”) and Sanskrit मर्कट (markaṭa). Note however Old High German merikazza, so any influence from Indo-Aryan would have to be exceptionally early.
Words from the same roots
Middle Dutchmeercatte all →
mercatmeerkitten
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.