Although this animal is peculiar to North America, a similar name, that of catamountain, for the wild cat, is common in the old authors from which we probably borrowed it. The catamount of North America is a larger and very different animal from the wild cat of Europe.
As cattes of the mountayn, they are spotted with diverse fykle fantasyes.--Bale on the Revel. (1550), p. 2.
Would any man of discretion venture such a gristle,
To the rude claws of such a cat-a-mountain?--Beaumont and Fletcher.