Where does “not enough room to swing a cat” come from?
not enough room to swing a cat (English) comes from English cat-o'-nine-tails, from English Cat, from English concatenate, from Latin concatenatus, from Latin concateno, from Latin cōn-, from Latin cum, from Old Latin com — to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,...
not enough room to swing a cat (English): Very little space
Ancestry of “not enough room to swing a cat”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | cat-o'-nine-tails | A whip having nine, often knotted, whipcords,... |
| 2 | English | Cat | A piece of heavy machinery, such as a backhoe, of... |
| 3 | English | concatenate | To join or link together, as though in a chain;... |
| 4 | Latin | concatenatus | |
| 5 | Latin | concateno | concatenate; link or chain together |
| 6 | Latin | cōn- | — |
| 7 | Latin | cum | with, along with; at; -fold |
| 8 | Old Latin | com | Alternative form of cum |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | kom | with, along, at |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱóm | beside, near, by, with |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | ḱe | Deictic particle, here; Post-positional... |
| 12 | Middle English | kyt | — |
| 13 | German | kitt | — |
| 14 | Old High German | kuti | — |
| 15 | Proto-West Germanic | kwidu | gum, resin |
| 16 | Proto-Germanic | kweduz | resin |
| 17 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷet- | resin, gum; to say, speak |
| 18 | Proto-Indo-European | gū- | to bend; curve; arch; vault; to bow, bend, arch,... |