catapulta

Learned borrowing from Latin catapulta. Doublet of catapult.

catapulta (plural catapultae or catapultæ)

1. A Roman catapult (weapon for launching projectiles).
   • 1801, Francis Grose, chapter 12, in A History of the English Army, volume 1, page 366:

     The projectile machines, or antient artillery, used by our ancestors about the time of the Norman invasion, were the scorpion, catapulta, balista, and onager of the Romans, with divers other species of the same machines, under a variety of different appellations.

   • 1863, Thomas de Quincey, Richard Bentley and Other Writings, page 128:

     This pantomime over, Bentley recoiled, with the spring of a Roman catapulta, to his natural pursuits.

   • 1863, "An Old Cricketer", The Cricket-Bat; and how to use it, page 90:

     The catapulta was formerly an engine of war, used by the Romans for casting javelins and stones against castellated walls. A modern form of catapulta has been constructed, with a view to do away with the necessity of bowling the ball.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [kə.təˈpul.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ka.taˈpul.ta]

Borrowed from Latin catapulta.

catapulta f (plural catapultes)

1. catapult

• catapultar

catapulta

1. inflection of catapultar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “catapulta”, 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

catapulta f (plural catapulte)

1. catapult

• catapultà

• “catapulta” in INFCOR: Banca di dati di a lingua corsa

• Homophones: catapultas, catapultât

catapulta

1. third-person singular past historic of catapulter

catapulta f (plural catapulte)

1. catapult
2. staff sling

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

catapulta

1. inflection of catapultare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Borrowed from Ancient Greek καταπέλτης (katapéltēs).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ka.taˈpʊɫ.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ka.t̪aˈpul̪.t̪a]

catapulta f (genitive catapultae); first declension

1. a catapult

First-declension noun.

• catapultārius

• → Catalan: catapulta
• → Corsican: catapulta
• → English: catapulta (learned)
• → German: Katapult
• → Italian: catapulta
• → Middle French: cacapulte, catapulte, cathapulte
  • French: catapulte
    • → Romanian: catapultă
  • → English: catapult
• → Polish: katapulta
• → Portuguese: catapulta
• → Spanish: catapulta

• “catapulta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “catapulta”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "catapulta", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• catapulta in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “catapulta”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “catapulta”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Learned borrowing from Latin catapulta, from Ancient Greek καταπέλτης (katapéltēs), from κατά (katá, “downwards, into, against”), from πάλλω (pállō, “to poise or sway a missile before it is thrown”).

• Hyphenation: ca‧ta‧pul‧ta

catapulta f (plural catapultas)

1. catapult

• catapultar
• trabuco, manganela, onagro

Borrowed from French catapulter. By surface analysis, catapultă +‎ -a.

• IPA^(key): /ka.ta.pulˈta/

a catapulta (third-person singular present catapultează, past participle catapultat) 1st conjugation

1. to catapult

• “catapulta”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

• IPA^(key): /kataˈpulta/ [ka.t̪aˈpul̪.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -ulta
• Syllabification: ca‧ta‧pul‧ta

Borrowed from Latin catapulta, from Ancient Greek καταπέλτης (katapéltēs).

catapulta f (plural catapultas)

1. catapult

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

catapulta

1. inflection of catapultar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “catapulta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024