The ‘cat’ in ‘catapult’ is derived from the Greek affix ‘κατα’ (kata-) which means ‘away’ or ‘below’, and is also found in words like ‘cataract’ and ‘catalepsy’. “Catastrophe’, however, is the cat show prize for la belle derierre.
Dana Summers
April 03, 2015
The ‘cat’ in ‘catapult’ is derived from the Greek affix ‘κατα’ (kata-) which means ‘away’ or ‘below’, and is also found in words like ‘cataract’ and ‘catalepsy’. “Catastrophe’, however, is the cat show prize for la belle derierre.