Everyday LifeGreek → English
Callistus
/kəˈlɪstəs/noun
A male given name, Latinised from Greek, borne by several popes.
The Greek roots
κάλλιστος
kállistos
most beautiful
καλός
kalós
beautiful, good
Literally: “most beautiful”
The story of the word
A superlative used as a name, and a slave's name at that: Callistus I, pope from about 217, had been someone's slave, had run a bank that failed and had served a sentence in the Sardinian mines before he was elected. The catacomb on the Appian Way that holds a dozen third-century popes is named after him. The feminine Καλλιστώ belongs to the nymph Zeus pursued and Hera turned into a bear, which is why one of Jupiter's four large moons is Callisto.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
calligraphykaleidoscopecallisthenics
In a sentence
Callistus III confirmed the retrial that cleared Joan of Arc.
The guide took us down into the catacomb of Callistus.