Caterpillar

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mnichols0
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Caterpillar

Postby mnichols0 » Sun Apr 09, 2023 6:00 pm

For some odd reason I was thinking of Alice in Wonderland yesterday, and my attention became stuck on the caterpillar. What an odd word!

As it turns out, it's late Middle English, possibly from a variant of Old French chatepelose, literally "hairy cat." The association with cats occurs in other European languages, such as Swiss German's Teufelkatz, meaning "devil's cat."

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Slava
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Re: Caterpillar

Postby Slava » Sun Apr 09, 2023 8:54 pm

According to dictionary.com, there is a second meaning, of which I never had a clue: "a person who preys on others; extortioner." Wow!

That is the only place I found on the internot that mentions the idea, though.

Turning to my real books I found: "An envious person who does mischief without provocation," and "One who preys upon the substance of another; an extortioner".
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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