Everyday LifeGreek → English
Catherine
/ˈkæθrɪn/noun
A woman's given name, spread across Europe in forms from Katherine to Katya.
The Greek roots
Αἰκατερίνη
Aikaterínē
a Greek woman's name
καθαρός
katharós
pure, clean
Literally: “the pure one, by later reading”
The story of the word
Nobody has explained Αἰκατερίνη. Attempts to tie it to Ἑκάτη, or to ἑκάτερος meaning each of two, convince no one. What is certain is what happened next: Christian writers heard καθαρός, pure, inside it and respelled the name with a th, which is why English has Katherine sitting beside Catherine. The martyr of Alexandria carried it across the continent, and the spiked wheel of her legend became the Catherine wheel, a firework first and a cartwheel after.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
catharsiscatharticCathar
In a sentence
Her grandmother was Catherine, her mother Kate, and she is Katya to everyone.
Three Catherines in one classroom made surnames necessary.