Here is why people would say Cats Have Nine Lives
Cats Have Nine Lives – Is it true that your feline friends have nine lives? This phrase has been a common saying around the globe.
Although this is just a myth, this phrase continues to spread from generation to generation. However, how did this saying come to life? Based on the article in Mental Floss, there is no clarity when it comes to the history of this phrase.
There are parts of history that can point to how this phrase started to be said. This phrase has been around for many years already but it could not be pinpointed where it exactly came from.
There is an old English proverb that says, “A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays.” However, there is no physical evidence to point out where this proverb started.
It was believed that the idea behind the proverb was probably about the unique personalities that cats usually had and not a factual statement about their lifespans.
In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare mentioned, “Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives.” Ancient Egyptians, revered cats, and not just British. Felines are perceived by Egyptians as sources of divine energy.
Egyptians believed that Atum-Ra, the sun god, gave birth to the other eight gods and also took the form of a cat. With this, the “nine lives” may have been connected to this symbolism which is Ra plus eight gods equals nine.
Chinese people believe that both cats and the number nine have positive significance. They once worshipped cats while for them, nine is a symbol of longevity.
However, not all cultures acknowledge that nine is a lucky number because, in a Reddit post, it was said that people in Germany and some Spanish-speaking nations say that cats have seven lives