Everyday LifeGreek → English
Christopher
/ˈkrɪstəfər/noun
A male given name.
The Greek roots
Χριστός
Khristós
anointed one
φέρω
phérō
to carry, bear
Literally: “Christ-bearer”
The story of the word
Early Christians used the name for anyone who carried Christ in his heart. The famous legend, in which a giant ferries a child across a river and finds him growing heavier with every step, is a later story invented to explain the name literally. The carrying half is generous elsewhere: φέρω gives phosphorus, the light-bearer, and metaphor, which carries a meaning across.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Old French → English
Same family
metaphorphosphorusperipheryChrist
In a sentence
Christopher medals still hang from a lot of dashboards.
He goes by Kit, which confuses anyone who has only seen his passport.