caterva

See also: Caterva

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin caterva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kəˈtɛr.bə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kəˈtɛr.və]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kaˈtɛɾ.va]

Noun

caterva f (plural caterves)

1. multitude

Derived terms

• catèrvola

Further reading

• “caterva”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Italian

Etymology

From Latin caterva.

Noun

caterva f (plural caterve)

1. multitude

Usage notes

• Used in the phrase una caterva di to means loads of, heaps of

Anagrams

• varcate

Latin

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Italic *katerwā, of uncertain origin, though Clayton (2024) suggests Proto-Indo-European *ḱátwr̥ (“hostility”). Perhaps related to cassis (“net”) and catēna (“chain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kat- (“to link or weave together; chain, net”). Also compare Albanian thes (“sack, bag”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kaˈtɛr.wa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈtɛr.va]

Noun

caterva f (genitive catervae); first declension

1. a crowd, a band, a troop, a retinue

   Synonyms: turba, manus, agmen

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.496–497:

     rēgīna ad templum fōrmā pulcherrima Dīdō
     incessit magnā iuvenum stīpante catervā

     The queen [arrives] at the temple – the exceedingly beautiful Dido – striding [in all her majesty] with a large retinue of youths escorting [her].

2. a group, flock, pack (of animals)
   • c. 125 CE – 180 CE, Apuleius, Metamorphoses 4.20:

     Miserum funestumque spectāmen aspexī: Thrasyleōnem nostrum catervīs canum saevientium cīnctum atque obsessum multīsque numerō morsibus laniātum.

     I witnessed a pitiable and dismal spectacle: our Thrasyleon was surrounded and besieged by packs of fierce dogs and wounded by a great number of bites.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	caterva	catervae
genitive	catervae	catervārum
dative	catervae	catervīs
accusative	catervam	catervās
ablative	catervā	catervīs
vocative	caterva	catervae

Descendants

• → Catalan: caterva
• → Italian: caterva
• → Portuguese: caterva, catrefa, catréfia
• → Sicilian: caterba
• → Spanish: caterva

References

• “caterva”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caterva”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "caterva", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “caterva”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a theatrical company: familia, grex, caterva histrionum
    
  • the Chorus in Tragedy: caterva, chorus
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “caterva”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 98

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin caterva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈteɾba/ [kaˈt̪eɾ.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -eɾba
• Syllabification: ca‧ter‧va

Noun

caterva f (plural catervas)

1. crowd, multitude
   • 1877, Benito Pérez Galdós, Gloria:

     -Antes se había entibiado la religiosidad; pero ahora se ha perdido por completo en la mayor parte de las personas, y las que aún saben dirigir sus almas al cielo, se ven perseguidas, amenazadas por la caterva brutal de filósofos y revolucionarios.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “caterva”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025