The corpus record — Latin

catena

chain

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

Where it lives

Panegyricus de tertio consulatu Honorii Augusti 1 · 7.24/10k
Cathemerina 3 · 4.08/10k
De Tranquillitate Animi 3 · 3.97/10k
Hercules 3 · 3.94/10k
Peristephanon Liber 6 · 3.42/10k
de bello Gildonico 1 · 3.16/10k
Hamartigenia 2 · 3.13/10k
Carmina 4 · 3.01/10k
Domitianus 1 · 2.91/10k
de raptu Proserpinae 2 · 2.87/10k
De consolatione philosophiae 7 · 2.85/10k
Achilleis 2 · 2.78/10k

Densest 12 of 82 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. catena — de Vaan

catena 'chain' very attractive, and maybe also with caterva 'band'. If catena reflects *kates-na> a preform *kat-s-i± is more likely. The basic meaning of *kat- might be 'to string together, plait'. A connection with the forms'for 'hut, cabin', advocated in IEW, seems unlikely. ; ; Bibl.: WH 1: 177, EM 103, IEW 534, -+ caterva ' castru, -Sre lto castrate; to thin out (plants)' [v. II] (P1.+) Pit *kastro-. PIE … — [de Vaan, s.v. catena, p. 111]

2. catena — de Vaan

catena 'chain' [f. a] (P1.+) Derivatives: catella 'light chain' (Cato+). Pit *kates-na-4? Catena might be derived from a form *kat^es-9 also attested in caterva (see s.v.). BibL: WH I: 177f., EM 105, IEW 534, Schrijver 1991:430. -► cassis, caterva — [de Vaan, s.v. catena, p. 112]

3. cătēna — Lewis & Short

cătēna, ae, f. (once with

I num. distrib. as piur. tantum: trinis catenis vinctus, Caes. B. G. 1, 53) [Sanscr. kat, to fall away; cf. catax].

I A wooden bracket, brace, etc., for holding two beams together, Cato, R. R. 18, 9; Vitr. 7, 3; Pall. 1, 3, 1.—

II A chain,

A Used as a fetter, shackle, etc.; usu. in plur. (syn. vincula): catenis vincire aliquem, Plaut. Men. 1, 1, 3; Ov. M. 15, 601 al.: catenas indere alicui, Plaut. Capt. 1, 2, 3: in catenas conicere aliquem, Caes. B. G. 1, 47; Liv. 29, 21, 2: catenas inicere alicui, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 41, § 106: in catenis aliquem Romam mittere, Liv. 29, 21, 12: in catenis aliquem per urbem ducere, id. 45, 40, 6: eximere se ex catenis, Plaut. Men. 1, 1, 8: rumpere catenas, Hor. S. 2, 7, 71: catenas alicui exsolvere, Tac. H. 3, 31 al.—In sing., Liv. 24, 34, 10; Cat. 64, 297; Verg. A. 6, 558; Hor. S. 1, 5, 65; Curt. 4, 3, 22; 7, 5, 36; Tac. A. 4, 28; 6, 14; Suet. Aug. 94; Sen. Ep. 9, 8; Plin. 34, 15, 43, § 150.—

2 Of a chain stopping the entrance of a harbor: catena ferrea valde robusta, Amm. 26, 8, 8.—

3 Trop., a constraint, fetter, barrier, bond: taetra belua, constricta legum sacratarum catenis, Cic. Sest. 7, 16: compesce animum frenis, catenā, Hor. Ep. 1, 2, 63: validā teneamur catenā, Tib. 4, 5, 15; 4, 1, 117: splendidiore nunc eos catenā sed multo graviore vinctos esse, quam cum, etc., Liv. 35, 38, 10: qui ad superiora progressus est.. laxam catenam trahit nondum liber, Sen. Vit. Beat. 16, 3; id. Tranq. 10, 3.—

B A chain of gold or silver worn by women as an ornament, Plin. 33, 3, 12, § 40; Paul. Sent. 3, 6, 84.—

C A series of things connected together, a chain, series, Lucr. 6, 910 (but id. 2, 630, is a false reading for quod armis; v. Lachm.).—

D Trop.: (praecepta oratoria) in catenas ligare, Quint. 5, 14, 32.

4. catena — Walde–Hofmann

catena ,Kette* s. 2. cassis „Netz“, vgl. caterva. — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. catena, p. 213]

In the wild

catenae Lucan, Pharsalia 3.565
catenam Vitruvius, De Architectura 10.4.4
catena Ovid, Amores 1.6.25
catena Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 6.233
Catenae Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae 14.5.8
catenis Julius Caesar, De bello Gallico 3.13.5

6 of 220 attestations shown.

Where it came from

de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. catena (scan p. 111; entry #220). Root candidates: *kat-, *kastro-, *kes-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. caténa (scan p. 129; entry #1893).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. catena (scan p. 213; entry #593).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.