Andy suggested “cattywampus” as a word o’ the week, and that brought “cattycorner” and “caterwaul” to mind. Let’s look.

I’m composing this in Eugene, where I have more comforts but less books. The dictionaries I have here are electronic but this is what I see.

Cattywampus = catawampus. It probably originated around 1830 in the U.S. and means “askew, awry, positioned diagonally.” It seems to come from cata (from the Middle French quatre = 4, suggesting a foursquare and from that diagonal) and wampus (from the Scottish “wampish,” to wave about or flop to and fro).

Catercorner = cattycorner =kittycorner and, like catawampus, has nothing to do with cats. Its cata is again diagonal, so cattycorner is understandable as a diagonal across quadrants. The dictionary indicates that cattycornered originated at about the same time as cattywampus and can be used as its synonym.

With caterwaul the feline arrives. It means to utter long wailing cries, like cats in rutting time or at quarrel, and probably goes back to the 14^th century. Middle English and Middle Dutch used cater for tomcat. In Old English, wawen or wawan meant howl, and waul developed into wail.

This investigation led me to “caterpillar.” According to what I read, it (the word, not the worm) emerged around 1440, and the cater in that word is the same tomcat. The pillar is from the French pelose (hairy), although it at least suggests the pillage the larvae can cause in our gardens. That’s right: etymologically, a caterpillar is a hairy cat.