Cater Family History

English and Scottish: occupational name for the buyer of provisions for a large household from Middle English catour katour kater forms of acatour acater ‘buyer’ (Anglo-Norman French acatour early Old French acateor central Old French achatour Late Latin acceptator an agent derivative of acceptare ‘to accept’).

Modern English caterer results from the addition of a second agent suffix to the word. Compare Chater English: habitational name from Cator in Widdecombe in the Moor (Devon). Americanized form of Dutch or German Kater.

Slovenian (Čater): status name for a person who read out the Slovenian ceremonial text at the installation of the Carantanian rulers and later Carinthian dukes derived from dialect čatiti ‘to read’.

Carantania was the early medieval Slovenian state centered on the territory of present-day Carinthia (see Korosec). The people's installation of the Carantanian rulers and Carinthian dukes was an exceptional example of democratic elections in medieval Europe.

Thomas Jefferson knew about it and was influenced by it in his thinking about American Independence. Compare Chater.