Cat Has Nine Lives

We understand the principle behind the phrase, "a cat has nine lives", meaning that the cat is resilient and tough. But why nine. Why not 6 or 10, for example? These sayings hark back to another age, of superstition and ill formed beliefs. In this instance it refers to what was considered a lucky number, 9 in ancient times as it was the sum total of the "trinity of trinities".


Holy Trinity - Father, Son Holy Spirit, one God - photo by A. Davey

Trinity means 3 and the trinity of trinities means 3 x 3 = 9. Since the 3rd century the Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been explained as "the one God exists in three Persons and one substance, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". Three persons in one Godhead. (src: Wikipedia - for Trinity)



Cat Has Nine Lives -- Photo: published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs creative commons License -- this site is for charitable purposes in funding cat rescue.