ywc

Paul Horn connects with the Iranian source of Old Armenian յոյզ (yoyz, “seeking, searching; trouble, agitation”), յուզեմ (yuzem, “to seek, to search; to trouble, to agitate”), interpreting the original meaning of the animal's name as “the seeker”. It should be noted that formerly the cheetah was tamed by aristocrats and used to hunt antelopes in much the same way as is still done with members of the greyhound group of dogs; compare the names hunting leopard, hunting cat, Jagdleopard.

Cognate with Chorasmian [script needed] (ywz, “cheetah”), Northern Kurdish osek (“panther”) and with the Iranian borrowings: Old Armenian յովազ (yovaz), յաւազ (yawaz), Georgian ავაზა (avaza), Classical Syriac ܝܘܙܐ‎ (yōzāʾ, yawzāʾ).

ywc • (yōz)

1. cheetah

• Persian: یوز‎ (yūz)
  • → Central Kurdish: [script needed] (yüz, “small hunting dog”) (dialect of the Mokri tribe)
  • → Pashto: يوز‎ m (yuz, “cheetah”)

• MacKenzie, D. N. (1971), “yōz”, in A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, page 97
• Hübschmann, Heinrich (1897) Armenische Grammatik. 1. Theil: Armenische Etymologie (in German), Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, page 199
• Ačaṙean, Hračʿeay (1977), “յովազ”, in Hayerēn armatakan baṙaran [Dictionary of Armenian Root Words] (in Armenian), volume III, 2nd edition, reprint of the original 1926–1935 seven-volume edition, Yerevan: University Press, pages 407a
• Horn, Paul (1893), “yōz”, in Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologie (in German), Strasbourg: K.J. Trübner, § 1129, pages 252–253
• Edelʹman, D. I. (2011) Etimologičeskij slovarʹ iranskix jazykov [Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages] (in Russian), volume IV, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura, page 113