An angry (or
amorous) cat can make a lot of noise. As long ago as the mid-1300s, English speakers were using
caterwaul for the act of voicing feline passions. The
cater part is, of course, connected to the cat, but scholars disagree about whether it traces to Middle Dutch
cāter, meaning "tomcat," or if it is really just
cat with an "-er" added. The
waul is probably imitative in origin; it represents the feline howl itself. English's first
caterwaul was a verb focused on feline vocalizations, but by the 1600s it was also being used for similar non-cat noises and for noisy people or things.
