cataracta Latin · revision 4171

15 Oct 2026, 21:12 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Vitruvius|origins=grc καταρράκτης}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ka.taˈrak.ta]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ka.taˈrak.ta]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''cataracta''' ''f'' (genitive cataractae); first declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|καταρράκτης|tr=katarrháktēs|t=waterfall; portcullis]], with the variant [[m|grc|καταράκτης|tr=kataráktēs]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) The Greek is from [[m|grc|καταράσσω|tr=katarássō|t=to dash down]].^(Wiktionary) Pliny and Solinus also have the masculine [[m|la|cataractēs]], and Priscian notes that Latin changed both the gender and the ending of the Greek masculine.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Vitruvius says that the Nile comes through the mountains to the Cataract.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates Vitruvius about 84–25 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) In military language it was a portcullis, in Livy and Vegetius, and Pliny the Younger uses it of a sluice that regulates a stream.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder also gives it as Juba's name for a diving seabird.^(OLD 2012)
+ 
+ Christian writers used ''cataractae caeli'', the floodgates of heaven, after Genesis.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(DMLBS) Medieval Latin used it of a dam or weir, a trapdoor, and an opacity of the eye.^(MLW)^(Niermeyer 1976) English ''cataract'' is recorded in the early 15th century, first of a waterfall or floodgate.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the Nile cataract.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a portcullis.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a seabird.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * early 15th century – English ''cataract'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|waterfall]], rapid, especially of the Nile.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A [[m|en|portcullis]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A [[m|en|sluice]], floodgate.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A diving seabird.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|cataract]] of the eye.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[en|cataract]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}