Meaning

noun hairy aromatic perennial herb having whorls of small white purple-spotted flowers in a terminal spike; used in the past as a domestic remedy; strongly attractive to cats

originFrom Middle English catt mynte, kattesminte, equivalent to cat + mint. The word’s appearance in early Middle English (c. 1230) and other Germanic languages (German Katzenminze, Icelandic kattarminta, Swedish kattmynta) means that it is very likely to have existed in Old English (as *cattes minte) as well.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0