Etymologically
Log in

cataracta

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 21:12. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ka.taˈrak.ta][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ka.taˈrak.ta][1]

Forms

cataracta f (genitive cataractae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek καταρράκτης (katarrháktēs, “waterfall; portcullis”), with the variant καταράκτης (kataráktēs).[2][3][1] The Greek is from καταράσσω (katarássō, “to dash down”).[1] Pliny and Solinus also have the masculine cataractēs, and Priscian notes that Latin changed both the gender and the ending of the Greek masculine.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius says that the Nile comes through the mountains to the Cataract.[2][3] Köbler dates Vitruvius about 84–25 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a waterfall or rapid, above all the falls of the Nile on the southern border of Egypt, in Seneca, Lucan and Ammianus, and Pliny uses it of the falls of the Euphrates.[2][3][6] In military language it was a portcullis, in Livy and Vegetius, and Pliny the Younger uses it of a sluice that regulates a stream.[3][2] Pliny the Elder also gives it as Juba's name for a diving seabird.[2]

Christian writers used cataractae caeli, the floodgates of heaven, after Genesis.[7][8] Medieval Latin used it of a dam or weir, a trapdoor, and an opacity of the eye.[9][10] English cataract is recorded in the early 15th century, first of a waterfall or floodgate.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the Nile cataract.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a portcullis.[3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a seabird.[2][5]
  • early 15th century – English cataract is recorded.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A waterfall, rapid, especially of the Nile.[2][1]
  2. A portcullis.[3][1]
  3. A sluice, floodgate.[2][3]
  4. A diving seabird.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A cataract of the eye.[10][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  10. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com