Some words were borrowed from Japanese into Ainu over 2,000 years ago. For OJ pasi ‘chopsticks’ > Ainu pasuy, kamwi > kamuy ‘god’, previous linguists were probably right in reconstrucing older -uy or -ui > -wi in native words but > -uy in Ainu. Loanwords often preserve sounds later lost in the original language. For OJ, older -uy would also be seen in compounds (\*kamuy > kamu- ).
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Older y, later changed, moved, or lost, might also be behind \*myakwo > Ainu meko, OJ nekwo ‘cat’, since optional my > ny is found in many languages, possibly even the oldest forms of Latin. The similarity of meko to neko seems best explained as a loan. It is likely the Ainu word was borrowed (no domestic cats there in the past) at an older stage before my- > ny- , again, preserving the older sound. It also seems many languages, especially in Asia, had a word for ‘cat’ or ‘tiger’ with \*myaw or similar sounds. Though probably not related to meow, there is Tocharian B mewiyo ‘tiger’, Saka muya, Kusunda mayhaq, myaq ‘leopard’, mia ‘lion’, Old Chinese \*mhyaaw or \*mhraaw ‘(wild) cat’ ( > mao ), Romany muca ‘cat’, and more.
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Bruh this post is near indecipherable.
you’ve not noticed a tendency for ainu words to start with m(e)-/not start with n(e)-?
Well, the biggest theory is that it’s just the old Heian sound for a cat crying and ko.
Kind of how we have nyanko and wanko
ネコの語源で有力な説は、「ネ」が鳴き声、「コ」が親しみを表す接尾語というものである。
『源氏物語』では猫の鳴き声を「ねうねう」と「ネ」の音で表現しており、「猫」の呉音は「ミョウ」「メウ」で鳴き声に由来する。
幼児語で猫を「ニャンニャン」や「にゃんこ」、犬を「ワンワン」や「わんこ」というように、鳴き声で呼び、後に「コ」を加える点も共通している。