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CATERPILLAR

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 512 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CATERPILLAR , the popular name of the larva of various See also:

insects, particularly of butterflies and moths (see See also:LEPIDOPTERA, See also:HEXAPODA, See also:METAMORPHOSIS). The word appears first in the See also:form cater pyl (Promptorium Parvulorum, about the See also:middle of the 15th See also:century). This may be the See also:original form, with the addition of -ar or -er; if so, it represents the O. Fr. chatepelose or chatepeleuse, i.e. "hairy-See also:cat " (chat, cat, and pelouse, hairy, See also:Lat. pilosus), a name applied to the hairy caterpillar, and also according to See also:Cotgrave to a See also:weevil. The use of " cat in this connexion is paralleled by the Swiss name for a caterpillar, teufelskatz, and the popular See also:English name for the blossom of the See also:willow, " catkin," somewhat resembling a caterpillar (cf. " See also:palmer ") ; the See also:modern See also:French is See also:chenille, Latin canicula, a little See also:dog. The termination of the word seems to have been See also:early connected with " piller," a robber, plunderer from the destructive habits of the larva, cf. See also:Joel i. 4—" That which the palmer-See also:worm hath See also:left, hath the See also:locust eaten." The spelling " caterpillar," a 19th century corruption, has been the usual form since See also:Johnson.

End of Article: CATERPILLAR

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