a. and sb.
Of or belonging to Catalonia, the most north-easterly province of Spain, once an independent principality. sb. A native of Catalonia; the language of Catalonia, a dialect of Provençal or Langue d’Oc, with affinities towards Spanish.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., cclvi. (1482), 334. Pope Calyxte the iij was a Catalane.
a. 1859. Macaulay, Hist. Eng. (1861), V. 97. The Catalans had risen in rebellion.
Hence Catalan forge, a blast-furnace for reducing iron ores, extensively used in Catalonia and the neighboring districts.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Catalan forge. A forge with a tuyere for reducing iron ore, with charcoal, to a loup of wrought iron; a bloomary.
