A 'Cat' in the Hat Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cataclysm

Strictly speaking, cataclysm should be used only to describe a flood of Biblical proportions, but is often now used for other disasters such as earthquakes. The word derives from the Greek word 'kataklysmos', which means a deluge or inundation. It has been used in English since the first half of the seventeenth century.

Answer: Catacomb

More often found as a plural word, catacombs are burial places, with the first catacombs being located on the Appian Way, in Rome - said to be where the apostles Paul and Peter were interred. The origin is, as you'd expect from that detail, Latin, but the etymology suggests that the second part of the word should be 'tomb'.

Other famous catacombs can be seen in Paris and Alexandria in Egypt.

Answer: Catalogue

A catalogue (catalog if you are American) refers to a collection of similar items which are categorised into groupings. The word originates from the Greek language, where 'katalogos' means 'a list or register' - the word appears in Homer's 'Iliad' with this meaning.

It has appeared in English since the early fifteenth century, and can also be used to describe a publication picturing and describing items for sale by mail order. These are less common these days, since most of us do our browsing on the internet.

Answer: Catalyst

The word is derived from the Greek word 'katalysis', referring to a 'dissolution' and mostly used in a political or military sense. The original English use in the mid seventeenth century was used in the same way before the sense in which it's now used, for chemical reactions, was adopted in the 1830s. The figurative meaning, as in 'a catalyst for change', dates from the 1940s.

Answer: Catamaran

For once this is a word which doesn't derive from Latin or Greek but from the Tamil language of Asia. The original name was 'kattu', meaning 'tied together', and 'maram', meaning 'a tree or the wood from a tree'. Kattumaram became catamaran in English. The original vessel was more of a raft than the twin-hulled boat to which it now refers.

Answer: Catapult

The English word is derived from the French word 'catapulte', which itself comes from the Latin 'catapulta'. This is translated as a 'war machine for throwing', but whether the original machine bears any resemblance to the modern day catapult is unknown.

The word has been used in English since the late sixteenth century. The vision most of us have of a catapult is a twig fitted with an elastic band and used by mischievous boys to propel stones.

Answer: Cataract

The original Greek word of 'katarhaktes' means broken water and also portcullis. It became the Latin word 'cataracta', with the meaning of waterfall, and became part of the English language in the early years of the fifteenth century. The secondary meaning of a portcullis explains why the same word is used for the clouding of the lens in the human eye, since both are a form of blockage.

Answer: Caterwaul

Defined as a 'disagreeable howling or screeching', the word is directly related to the cat, who can certainly let out a disconcerting scream at times. One possible derivation is the Low German word 'katerwaulen', which translates as 'cry like a cat'. On the other hand, Middle English has the word 'waul', meaning to yowl. Either way, caterwaul has been used in English from the early eighteenth century.

Answer: Catharsis

In use since the eighteenth century, the original use of this word was in a medical sense, referring to anything that purged the body, especially the bowels. The Greek word from which it is derived is 'katharsis', referring to cleansing. Since the late nineteenth century, the word has been used in a more figurative sense to refer to an emotional release of guilt or similar feelings - 'a cathartic experience'.

Answer: Catcall

The original catcall was actually a seventeenth century instrument which made a noise similar to a cat. It was used for the same purpose, though, to express disapproval in a theatrical setting nowadays usually by whistling or shouting. The expression can also refer to men making inappropriate advances to women, normally referred to as wolf-whistling in the UK.