cataphract

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English

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WOTD – 18 September 2020

Pronunciation

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The ceremonial cataphract-style armour (etymology 1, sense 1) of the “Golden Man”, a member of Saka or Scythian royalty, unearthed at the Issyk kurgan in Kazakhstan.

Etymology 1

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From Latin cataphractes (“suit of armour”), from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “suit of armour”),[1] from κατα- (kata-, prefix indicating a great degree or intensity) + φρακτός (phraktós, “protected; fenced in”) (from φράσσω (phrássō, “to fortify, secure; to fence in”)) + -της (-tēs, suffix forming nouns indicating a state of being).

Noun

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cataphract (plural cataphracts)

  1. (military, historical) Defensive armour covering the entire body of a soldier and often the soldier's horse as well, especially the linked mail or scale armour of some eastern nations.
  2. (ichthyology, by extension, obsolete) An outer covering of some fish resembling armour or plate.
Derived terms
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Translations
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armour for the entire body of a soldier and often for the soldier's horse as well

Etymology 2

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A historical re-enactment of a Sassanid-era cataphract (etymology 2, noun sense) with his horse clad in scale armour as well.

The adjective is derived from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”), from καταφράσσειν (kataphrássein, “to suit in armour”)[1] (see further at etymology 1) + -τος (-tos, “suffix forming adjectives”).

The noun is derived from Latin cataphractus (“wearing armour, mailed”), from Ancient Greek κατάφρακτος (katáphraktos, “covered, enclosed, shut up; completely suited in armour”); see above.

Adjective

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cataphract

  1. (nautical, historical) Of a galley such as a trireme: with the upper tier of rowers shielded rather than exposed.
    Antonym: aphract
    • 1876 April 7, Edmond Warre, “Ancient Naval Tactics. Part I.”, in Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard, volume XX, number LXXXVIII, London: W. Mitchell and Co., […], published 1877, →OCLC, pages 597–598:
      And first we must call attention to the fact that two classes of vessels appear to have been employed, distinguished by the name of "Aphract," unfenced, or "Cataphract," fenced, according as the rowers of the upper tier were protected or exposed. Both classes were decked and floored, but the "Aphract" class carried their decks and flooring lower than the "Cataphract," so that in them the rowers of the upper tier were visible above the side of the vessel; [...] [F]rom the time of the invention by the Thasians of this system, all the larger vessels of war used by both Greeks and Romans were Cataphract. In the Cataphract trireme, the space allowed for each oarsman was, according to [B.] Graser, eight square feet per man, and this proportion was observed in the larger vessels up to the octireme.
    • 2012, William M. Murray, “Introduction: Understanding the Big Ship Phenomenon”, in The Age of Titans: The Rise and Fall of the Great Hellenistic Navies (Onassis Series in Hellenic Culture), Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
      The ancients either called these ships by their class name (a number plus the -eres root) or by a descriptive term "cataphract" (kataphraktos) which means something like "armored" or "fenced" in the sense of having reinforced decks and sides to protect the oarcrew from missiles and deck-fighting. Because "The Age of Titans" involved galleys whose signature feature was their larger than normal size, and because cataphract galleys could comprise small ships that were protected by extra planking, I frequently employ another term to describe these ships, namely, "big" or "large," from the Greek megala skaphe and its variants megalai nees (big ships) and megista skaphe (biggest ships).
Translations
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Noun

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cataphract (plural cataphracts)

  1. (military, historical) A soldier (especially a horseman) covered with a cataphract (etymology 1, sense 1).
    • 1635, L. I. [pseudonym; John Lechmere], “The Third Argument was about the Killing Letter; out of Origen, […]”, in The Relection of a Conference Tovching the Reall Presence. Or A Bachelovrs Censvre of a Masters Apologie for Doctour Featlie, Douai: Lavrence Kellam, →OCLC, page 333:
      He who lookes you in the face, ſaith he ſees you, though the reſt of your bodie be within your cloathes, and if you, being an ὁωλομάχος a cataphract in your proteſtantiſh πανοπλία [panoplía, suit of armour] should for fear pull downe your beuer before you come into the liſt, your Aduerſarie for all that might light vpon your (  ) vnleſſe you bring with you Giges his ring, ſo to make your ſelf inuiſible; [...]
    • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, pages 93–94, lines 615–620:
      Immediately / Was Samſon as a public ſervant brought, / In thir ſtate Livery clad; before him Pipes / and Timbrels, on each ſide went armed guards, / Both horſe and foot before him and behind / Archers, and Slingers, Cataphracts and Spears.
    • 1812, Herodotus, translated by William Beloe, Herodotus, Translated from the Greek, […], 3rd edition, volume IV, London: […] Luke Hansard & Sons, […]; for Leigh and Sotheby;  […], →OCLC, footnote 155, page 127:
      Lucullus also had these [the cavalry of Cappadocia and Paphlagonia] in his army at the siege of Tigranocerta; and in the battle with Tigranes made choice of them and the Thracian horse to attack the Cataphracts, the choicest of the enemy's cavalry, and to drive them from the ground.
    • 1814, Henry Augustus, Viscount Dillon [i.e., Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon], “Of the Division of Forces into Distinct Classes”, in Ælian [i.e., Aelianus Tacticus], The Tactics of Ælian, Comprising the Military System of the Grecians; […], London: […] Cox and Baylis, […], for E. Kerby, […], →OCLC, pages 19–20:
      Ælian calls the heavy-armed infantry, ὁπλίται, hoplitæ; and the heavy horse soldiers, καταφρακτοι, cataphracti;—we denominate the former completely-armed troops, and the latter cuirassiers.— [...] The cuirassiers carried targets and used pikes. The Parthian cataphracts had also bows and arrows.
    • 1820, John Gillies, chapter XXV, in The History of Ancient Greece, Its Colonies, and Conquests: Part the Second; […], new (6th) edition, volume IV, London: […] T[homas] Cadell & W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, pages 119–120:
      Besides the equestrian archers who fought flying, and wearied out an enemy by often renewed assaults, they had heavy cataphracts or cuirassiers clad in the steel of Margiana (a province immediately eastward of Parthia,) armed with long lances, and bearing a wonderful resemblance in all points to the chivalrous warriors of the middle ages.
    • 1930, W[illiam] W[oodthorpe] Tarn, “Lecture II: Cavalry and Elephants”, in Hellenistic Military & Naval Developments, New York, N.Y.: Biblo and Tannen, published 1984, →ISBN, pages 74–75:
      [...] Tacitus (Hist. I, 79) says that the Sarmatian cataphracts were rather helpless if knocked off their horses, just like the mediaeval knights. The chief difference was, that whereas the mediaeval knight was armoured all over, the cataphract had no thigh armour under his coat, I suppose because he was riding without stirrups and grip was all-important; it may have been this which led to the invention of stirrups.
    • 1933, M. Pillet, “General Report of the Campaign of 1930–31”, in P. V. C. Baur, M[ikhail] I[vanovich] Rostoftzeff, A[lfred] R. Bellinger, editors, The Excavations at Dura-Europos: Conducted by Yale University and the French Academy of Inscriptions and Letters: Preliminary Report of Fourth Season of Work, October 1930–March 1931, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 13:
      The second graffito [...], depicting a cataphract, is unique until now. He is armed with a lance having streamers(?) at its point and is protected by a complete coat of mail. He carries a conical helmet ending in a point from which hangs a piece of mesh protecting his face.
    • 1990, Larry H. Addington, “War in the Middle Ages”, in The Patterns of War through the Eighteenth Century, Bloomington, Indianapolis, Ind.: Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 47:
      The heart of the Byzantine army was the cataphract, a missile-shock soldier who functioned from horseback as an armored, mounted lancer or, with his bow, as a mounted archer. [...] The cataphract was also well protected by a casque or conical metal helmet, chain-mail armor from his neck to his thighs, and a small shield strapped to his left arm.
    • 1996, Adrian Keith Goldsworthy, “The Opposition”, in The Roman Army at War: 100 BC–AD 200 (Oxford Classical Monographs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, published 1998, →ISBN, page 66:
      The least numerous, but most impressive cavalry were the cataphracts. A fully equipped cataphract had a bronze or iron helmet, perhaps with neck guard, a lamella, mail, or scale cuirass with arm and thigh guards attached, leg defences of mail or laminated strips, and mail-reinforced gauntlets. The horse wore a caparison of iron or bronze scales with further armour on the neck or head.
    • 2012, Peter Goh, chapter 2, in Eagle in the Land of Dragons, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 43:
      A party of heavy cataphracts rode up, their horses thundering to a halt amid a cloud of dirt. The men were in full-length lamellar armour which hampered their mobility to no small degree.
Translations
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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “cataphract, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1889; “cataphract, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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