Meerkatze

From Middle High German merekatze, from Old High German merikazza (11th century); equivalent to Meer (“sea”) +‎ Katze (“cat”). So called probably because they were brought to Europe over the sea from Africa. The restriction to the specific species is obviously not original, but a fairly recent scientific use. Adelung (ca. 1780) still defines it as referring to any long-tailed monkey. Compare Middle Dutch meercatte, whence eventually English meerkat.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmeːrˌkatsə/, [ˈmeːɐ̯ˌkät͡sə], [ˈmɛɐ̯-]

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1. guenon (kind of monkey)
   • 1907, Friedrich Dahl, Versuche über den Farbensinn bei einer Meerkatze:

• Not to be confused with English meerkat (“kind of mongoose”), the German word for which is Erdmännchen.

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• Grüne Meerkatze f

• “Meerkatze” in Duden online
• “Meerkatze” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache