cater-cousin

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Apparently from cater +‎ cousin; further etymology uncertain. The following derivations of the first element cater have been suggested:

  • Stephen Skinner (1623–1667) proposed a derivation from French quatre (four), used in place of quatrième (fourth) to refer to a fourth cousin.[1] Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) agreed, saying that the term alluded to the “ridiculousness of calling cousin or relation to so remote a degree”.[2] The Oxford English Dictionary (“OED”) states that this “seems very unlikely”.[3]
  • Instead, the OED suggests that the first element is from cater ((obsolete) provider of food, noun) or cater (to provide with food, verb), with the term originally referring to people being considered as related because they were catered for or boarded together: compare companion (literally bread-sharer), foster father (literally food-father), etc.[3]
  • Anatoly Liberman (born 1937) doubts both of the above, preferring a derivation from a lost North Germanic word meaning “angled; crooked; clumsy”: compare Danish kejte (left hand), kejtet (awkward, clumsy), English cater-corner (of or pertaining to something at a diagonal to another; (Britain dialectal, obsolete) uneven, not square, as mislaid stones or people with a limping gait), and Swedish kaitu (left hand).[4] The OED says an early Scandinavian origin “seems less convincing”.[3]

The modern use of the term was popularized by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616) in his play The Merchant of Venice (written c. 1596–1598; published 1600):[3] see the quotation.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

cater-cousin (plural cater-cousins)

  1. (archaic) A person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.
    Synonyms: bosom buddy, intimate
  2. (figurative) A thing which is closely associated with or related to another thing.
    • a. 1556 (date written), Hugh Latimer, “A Frutefull Letter of Maister Latimer Written to a Certaine Gentilman”, in John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, [], London: [] Iohn Day, [], published 30 March 1563 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, book V, page 1351 [1420], column 2:
      But he þt [that] wil take his brothers parte against right, as to ratifie his brothers wrong deceyuing, he is to much natural, tanquam sequens ingenium siue inclinationem naturæ corruptæ contra voluntatem dei [as one following the disposition or inclination of the corrupt nature against the will of God]. And so to bee naturall maye well seme to be cater cosen or cosen germane with (to be diabolicall).
    • 1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, [], London: [] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] [], →OCLC, page 16:
      To this Commune bonum (or euery horſe his loafe) Yarmouth in propinquity is as the buckle to the thong, and the next finger to the thumbe; not that it is ſibbe or cater-couſins to any mũgrel Democratia, in vvhich one is all, & all is one, but that in her as they are not al one ſo one or tvvo there pockets not vp all the peeces, []

Alternative forms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stephano Skinner [i.e., Stephen Skinner] (1671), “Quater-coſins”, in Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ, [] [Etymologicon of the English Language, []], London: [] T. Roycroft, & prostant venales apud H[enry] Brome [] [[] T. Roycroft, and are to be sold by H[enry] Brome [...]], →OCLC, folios Ppp2, recto – Ppp2, verso: “Quater-coſins ut dicimus, ubi aliqui inter ſe occultam ſimultatem habent, they are not Cater or Quater coſins (i.e.) Fr. G. ils ne ſont pas des Quatre couſins.
  2. ^ Samuel Johnson (15 April 1755), “Ca′ter-cousin”, in A Dictionary of the English Language: [], volume I (A–K), London: [] W[illiam] Strahan, for J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton; [], →OCLC, column 2.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 cater-cousin, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  4. ^ Anatoly Liberman (2008), “KITTY-CORNER”, in Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology, Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, →ISBN, pages 133–135.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]