Etymologically
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catus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈka.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkaː.tus][1]

Forms

catus (feminine cata, neuter catum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kato-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ḱh₃-to- (“sharpened”), from a root meaning “to sharpen”; in Italic the sense moved from “sharp” to “clever”.[2][1] Cognate with Old Irish cath (“wise, able”) and Sanskrit शित (śitá-, “sharpened”).[2][3] Varro calls it a Sabine word for acūtus (“sharp”), which de Vaan thinks possible.[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[2][6] and Ennius has it twice: egregie cordatus homo, catus Aelius Sextus, “an exceptionally sensible man, shrewd Aelius Sextus”, and cata signa, signals with a shrill sound.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, sharp to the ear, shrill, is found only in Ennius.[4][3] Of the mind it means clear-sighted, clever, shrewd,[3][4] and of advice or sayings well judged.[3] Lewis & Short think it never became at home in prose: Cicero adds “so to speak” when he uses it.[4] Horace has it with an infinitive, skilled at throwing.[4] In a bad sense it is sly or crafty: in Plautus a woman is cata et callida, sly and cunning.[4][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a sly woman and of clever advice.[4][2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius, of a shrewd man and of shrill signals.[3][4][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, with “so to speak”.[4][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, “skilled at throwing”.[4][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Clever, shrewd, wise, clear-sighted;[3][4][1] of advice, well judged.[3]
  2. Sly, crafty, cunning.[4][1]
  3. (archaic) Shrill, clear-sounding.[3][4][1]

Usage notes

A late noun catus “male cat”, in Palladius, is a form of cattus, perhaps influenced by this adjective.[4][1] Catus was also a Roman cognomen,[3] and de Vaan derives the name Catō from the adjective.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de