early 15c., from Old French catalogue "list, index" (14c.), and directly from Late Latin catalogus, from Greek katalogos "a list, register, enrollment" (such as the katalogos neon, the "catalogue of ships" in the "Iliad"), from kata "down; completely" (see cata-) + legein "to say, count" (see lecture, n.).

1590s, "to make a catalogue;" see catalogue, n.. From 1630s as "to enter into a catalogue." Related: Catalogued; cataloguing.