cataclysm

Etymology

It is borrowed from French cataclysme, recorded in French from the 16th century,^[2][3] from Latin cataclysmos,^[4][5][6][3] from Ancient Greek κατακλυσμός (kataklusmós, “deluge, flood”).^[2][3][7] The Oxford English Dictionary and Klein go from the French straight to Greek,^[2][8] and Etymonline allows that French took it directly from Greek;^[3] Dictionary.com takes the English word from Late Latin cataclysmos, the Vulgate's word.^[9] The Greek noun comes from κατακλύζω (kataklúzō, “to deluge, inundate”),^[2][4][1] formed from κατά (katá, “down”) and κλύζω (klúzō, “to wash, dash as a wave”),^[2][3][6] which Etymonline and Barnhart trace to Proto-Indo-European *kleue- (“to wash, clean”).^[3][6] Klein and Barnhart compare Latin cloāca (“sewer, drain”),^[8][3] Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌿𐍄𐍂𐍃 (hlūtrs, “clear, pure”) and Lithuanian šlúoti (“to sweep”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record in the Oxford English Dictionary is already figurative, an overwhelming upheaval, in the play True Trojans (1633);^[2][6] its first record of the literal flood is from T. Heywood in 1637.^[2] Etymonline and the Oxford Dictionary of English nevertheless take the Flood of Genesis as the original sense,^[3][10] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the flood sense to 1599.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Greek noun was already used figuratively as well as for a deluge,^[2] and both uses reached English within a few years of each other.^[2] Johnson (1755) gave only "a deluge; an inundation", used generally for the universal deluge, with a quotation from Hale's Origin of Mankind about universal cataclysms.^[11] Geologists use it for a sudden and violent change in the earth's surface,^[4][8] and the Shorter Oxford extends the word to violent meteorological events too.^[12] The Oxford English Dictionary singles out political or social upheaval that sweeps away the old order,^[2] and Collins now lists that sense first, ahead of the flood.^[13]

Timeline

• 1633 – figurative, an upheaval that sweeps away the old order.^[2][6]
• 1637 – a great flood, especially the Flood of Genesis.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates this sense to 1599.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A violent upheaval, especially a political, social or military one, that destroys the existing order: Few institutions survived the cataclysm of the revolution.^[13][4][2]
2. A disastrous flood; a deluge, especially the Flood of Genesis.^[13][4][2]
3. (geology) A sudden, violent change affecting the earth's surface; a catastrophe.^[13][4][12]

Word family

• cataclysmic
• cataclysmically

Related words

• cloaca
• clyster

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins