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• caterpillar •

Pronunciation: kæt-êr-pi-lêr • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: 1. Wormlike footed larva of a butterfly or moth. 2. A bulldozer with an endless chain of metal plates stretching from the back to the front wheels. 3. (Rare) Plunderer, thief, extortioner, rapacious person.

Notes: The original caterpillar tractor was invented by Benjamin Holt in 1904 by adding tracks to his farm tractor already in production. Some thought the tractor with tracks looked like a caterpillar crawling so, in 1910 that name was registered as a trademark. In 1925 Holt's company merged with his strongest competitor, that of C. L. Best they decided that the company would be called Caterpillar Incorporated.

In Play: Caterpillars can be as ugly as the butterflies they become are beautiful: "The eastern tent caterpillar defoliates entire groves some springs." The third sense of this word emanates from that activity of caterpillars: "The caterpillars on the town council threatened to cut funding for Darren's committee if he didn't stop criticizing it." I captured my most enlightening experience with a caterpillar in a poem that may be found here.

Word History: Today's Good Word in late Middle English was catyrpel (1500s), catyrpyllar, catyrpiller (1600s-1700s), catterpiller and caterpillar (1800s on). It probably was an attempt at copying Old French chatepelose "caterpillar", literally "hairy cat", in the category of such literal misnomers as 'fuzzy bear', and 'lady finger'. The association with cats occurs in other European languages, such as Swiss German's Teufelkatz "caterpillar", literally "devil's cat". French chat "cat" derived from Late Latin cattus, passed down from PIE kat- "young animal", source also of Latin catulus "young animal", English cat, German Katze, Polish kot, Russian koška and kot "tomcat". (Now for a note of appreciation to Mike Nichols for spotting the interest in today's Good Word and sharing it with us.)

I fondly think of the mushroom-pushing caterpillar in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and not-so-fondly of the stabbing pain which followed putting an especially spiny specimen in my pocket during first grade.

When I was a kid, I used to read with great enjoyment the stories in the Saturday Evening Post about the salesman of Earthworm Tractors, Alexander Botts. "Earthworm", of course, is an obvious takeoff on "Caterpillar", although the name doesn't lend itself so readily to shortening, as "Cat".

My favorite stories were those in which Botts was pitted against a salesman from a competing company, and he had to overcome, with wit and ingenuity, their nefarious schemes. I actually learned from these stories some underhanded techniques that should still be watched out for in expensive road building projects.

If you haven't seen it already, Barabara, you will much enjoy Danny de Vito's film The Tin Men, for its marvellous underhand competitive sales techniques. I commend it.

Is commend any different from recommend?

David

Is commend any different from recommend?

They overlap in meaning, but are not always synonymous. You can commend (praise) a person without recommending them to anyone; and you can recommend something (as the best available) without particularly admiring it.

Thanks, Audiendus. That all makes sense. Perhaps I should have used recommend, although I guess either will do.