Catawampus
Posted by Bruce Kahl on February
29, 2000 In Reply to: Re: Cattywumpus posted by
Bob DeLong on February 28, 2000
The first element of the word, "cata," is probably related to
"cater," also found in the related word "catercorner" (or, as many
folks know it, "cattycorner" or "kittycorner"). "Cater" in these
words is an Anglicization of the French "quatre," or "four," and
"catercornered" originally just meant "four-cornered." To specify
that something is "catercorner across" from something else is to
stress the diagonal axis of an imaginary box, as opposed to saying
"directly across" or just "across." Both "catercorner" and "catawampus"
are native American colloquialisms dating back to the 1880's or
earlier.
The "wampus" part of "catawampus" is a real puzzler. It may have
come from the Scots word "wampish," meaning "to wriggle or twist,"
which would certainly seem to fit with "catawampus" meaning "askew"
or "crooked." But "wampus" also may have been a completely nonsensical
element, made up by someone because it sounded funny..
Two other aspects of "catawampus" bear mentioning. First, "catawampus"
can also mean "a fierce imaginary animal," or simply "fierce." The
theory is that this sense of "catawampus" is entirely separate in
origin from the "askew" sense, and comes from "catamount," which
is an old American folk term for a mountain lion (cat-a-mount, get
it?).
Second, both "catawampus" and "catercorner" are often seen and
heard with the first element spelled "catty" or "kitty." Linguists
call this process "folk etymology" -- people replacing an unfamiliar
element in a word or phrase ("cater") with a familiar one ("catty"
or "kitty").
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