Cato the Younger
/ˈkeɪtoʊ ðə ˈjʌŋɡər/noun
Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95–46 BCE), a Roman statesman and Stoic famous for opposing Julius Caesar and choosing suicide rather than submit to him.
Did you know?Cato’s later epithet “Uticensis” means “of Utica,” after the North African city where he died; his suicide was later portrayed as a philosophical act of freedom.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kat-
“A proposed ancient root associated with sharpness or skill; the deeper origin of Latin catus is uncertain.”
Ancient Latin
Latin
catus
“Clever, shrewd, or astute.”
3rd–2nd Century BCE
Latin
Cato
“A Roman cognomen, likely conveying the sense of a shrewd or experienced person.”
95 BCE
Latin
Marcus Porcius Cato
“The full name of the Roman statesman later called Cato the Younger.”
46 BCE
Latin
Cato Uticensis
“Cato of Utica, the epithet associated with the place of his death.”
Modern English
English
Cato the Younger
“The conventional English name distinguishing him from his great-grandfather, Cato the Elder.”