Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Catellus

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

CATELLUS. A diminutive of CATENA; a small chain made use of for the confinement of slaves, but whether of any special character, it is difficult to determine. From the passage of Plautus where the word occurs (Curc. v. 3. 13.), it may be surmised that the catellus was something like what is now called a "clog," which is attached to the legs of animals to prevent them from straying, and which might have been fastened as a punishment, to the leg of a slave; the term thus originating in a pun upon the word canis (Becker, Quaest. Plautin. p. 63. Lips. 1837.), the clog and chain having a sort of affinity to a dog with its chain.