Brewer's: Ælurus

Ælu′rus

The cat. An Egyptian deity held in the greatest veneration. Herodotus (ii. 66) tells us that Diana, to avoid being molested by the giants, changed herself into a cat. The deity used to be represented with a cat's head on a human body. (Greek, ailouros. a cat.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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