The corpus record

καταρράκ-της

katarraktes

down-swooping, sheer, waterfall, portcullis, movable bridge, sluice

Generated live from the audited corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Malachias 1 · 7.2/10k
Regnorum IV 2 · 1.16/10k
Jeremias 3 · 1.08/10k
Oedipus at Colonus 1 · 0.97/10k
Birds 1 · 0.94/10k
Genesis 2 · 0.67/10k
Leviticus 1 · 0.53/10k
Deuteronomium 1 · 0.45/10k
Psalmi 1 · 0.29/10k

What it meant

1. καταρράκτης · katarraktēs — Beekes

καταρράκτης. [m.] ‘down-swooping, sheer, waterfall, portcullis, movable bridge, sluice’; also name of a bird, ‘cormorant’ (Hdt, S., Ar.). VAR Ion. -ρρήκτης, eETYM From kata-ppattw, -ρρήσσω; see on » pacow. καύαξ 657 — [Beekes, s.v. καταρράκτης, p. 703]

2. καταρράκτης · katarraktēs — Frisk

καταρράκτης, ion. -ρρήκτης m. “herabstürzend, steil, Wasserfall, Falltüre, Enterbrücke, Schleuse’, auch N. eines Vogels, “Wasser-, Seerabe’ (Hdt., S., Ar., hell. u. 5Ρ.). — Von xaraEEATTW, -ρρήσσω, 8. ῥἄττω. — [Frisk, s.v. καταρράκτης, p. 833]

3. καταρράκ-της · katarrak-tēs — LSJ

I down-rushing

as Adj., down-rushing, ὄμβρος Str. 14.1.21.

2 sheer, abrupt

sheer, abrupt, τὸν καταρράκτην ὀδόν S. OC 1590 (cf. Sch.; καταφράκτην Suid. s.v. ὀδός).

II waterfall, cataract

as Subst., waterfall, cataract, esp. of the Nile, D.S. 1.32, 17.97, Str. 17.1.2 and 49, Epigr.Gr. l.c.:—Ion. Καταρρήκτης, name of a river in Phrygia, Hdt. 7.26.

2 portcullis

portcullis, Plu. Ant. 76, Arat. 26, D.H. 8.67.

3 trap-door

trap-door, οἱ κ. τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἠνεῴχθησαν LXX Ge. 7.11, cf. 4 Ki. 7.2.

4 movable bridge

movable bridge, for boarding ships, App. BC 5.82; for attacking elephants, D.H. 20.1.

5 sluice

sluice, Hld. 9.8.

6 swooping down, cormorant

a sea-bird, prob. so called from swooping down upon its prey, Ar. Av. 887, Arist. HA 509a4, 615a28, Juba 68a, Dionys. Av. 2.2, 3.22; cormorant, Hebr. shālâkh, LXX De. 14.16(17), al.; of an eagle, S. Fr. 377; of the Harpies, ib. 714.

In the wild

καταρράκτῃ · katarraktēi Aristophanes, Birds 1 (DIORISIS sentence 653)
καταράκτην · kataraktēn Septuaginta, Deuteronomium 14
καταρράκται · katarraktai Septuaginta, Genesis 7
καταρράκται · katarraktai Septuaginta, Genesis 8
καταρράκτου · katarraktou Septuaginta, Jeremias 20
καταρράκτην · katarraktēn Septuaginta, Jeremias 20

6 of 13 attestations shown. Ask for more.

Where it came from

No etymology authority pointer is recorded for this lemma yet — an honest gap, not an omission. The etymological dictionaries (Beekes, Chantraine, Frisk) are matched incrementally.

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