kəˈtēnə, -tā- noun
( plural cate·nae -ē(ˌ)nē, -āˌnī ; or cate·nas -_nəz)
Etymology: Medieval Latin & Latin; Medieval Latin, extract from patristic writings, from Latin, chain — more at chain
1. : a connected series of related things
a catena of passages which indicates a kind of amoral determinist attitude — S.G.F.Brandon
as
a. : a series of extracts from patristic writings serving to expound some portion of scripture
b. : a group of closely associated soils within a given geographic zone or region that originated from the same or similar parent material but that developed differing characteristics of the solum because of local variations in relief or drainage
2.
a. : a bast fiber found in any of several Mexican trees of the genus Heliocarpus
b.
[New Latin, from Latin]
: a tree of the genus Heliocarpus in which catena is found