Faith & RitualGreek → English
Catholic
/ˈkæθəlɪk/adjective
Universal in scope, or belonging to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Greek roots
κατά
katá
according to
ὅλος
hólos
whole, entire
Literally: “according to the whole”
The story of the word
Ignatius of Antioch, writing around 110, used he katholikḕ ekklēsía for the whole church everywhere, not one institution set against another. The capital C hardened only after the Reformation gave it something to be opposed to. The small letter keeps the older sense, which is why a person of catholic tastes likes everything. Hólos also gives holistic and holocaust, whole-burnt.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- 14th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
holisticholographholocaustcatholicism
In a sentence
His reading was catholic to the point of chaos: Aquinas, then a manual on outboard motors.