

Human: Where does the saying of cats have nine lives come from?

Assistant: The idea of a cat having nine lives is thought to have come from Indian folklore.  In Sanskrit, a language native to the Indian subcontinent, the word “nakshatra” (a word that came from Sanskrit to refer to the “star” a cat was believed to be reborn under) has a numerical value of nine.  As the legend developed in various other cultures, people used the phrase “nine lives” to refer to the notion that cats had nine chances to live a life and die before finally being reincarnated as an immortal, or otherwise greatly prolonged their life.


Human: Where does the saying of cats have nine lives come from?

Assistant: It seems to me there are two questions: where does this saying come from, and where does the idea of “cat having nine lives” come from?
Where does the saying of cats have nine lives come from?
The idea of a cat having nine lives is thought to have come from Indian folklore.  In Sanskrit, a language native to the Indian subcontinent, the word “nakshatra” (a word that came from Sanskrit to refer to the “star” a cat was believed to be reborn under) has a numerical value of nine.  As the legend developed in various other cultures, people used the phrase “nine lives” to refer to the notion that cats had nine chances to live a life and die before finally being reincarnated as an immortal, or otherwise greatly prolonged their life.
It seems to me there are two questions: where does this saying come from, and where does the idea of “cat having nine lives” come from?