Plural of catena; chains or chain-like sequences, especially in classical texts or theological commentaries.
Latin plural of catena (chain), from Sanskrit shrinkhala. In medieval scholarship, catenae referred to chains of commentary or interpretation linked together like links in a chain.
Medieval scholars used 'catenae' as a specific term for texts where multiple biblical interpretations were chained together—it's literally where we got the modern idea of 'linking' information, which influenced how we now think about hypertext.
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