Everyday LifeGreek → English
Polycarp
/ˈpɒlɪkɑːrp/noun
A male given name, borne by the second-century bishop of Smyrna who was burned as a martyr.
The Greek roots
πολύς
polýs
much, many
καρπός
karpós
fruit
Literally: “much fruit”
The story of the word
The account of his death is the earliest surviving Christian martyrdom written as a document in its own right, and it reports him saying he had served Christ eighty-six years. He claimed to have listened to John as a boy, which made him a living link to the apostles for the next generation. Karpos is the fruit inside pericarp and endocarp; the wrist bone called the carpus comes from a different Greek word that happens to look identical.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
pericarpendocarppolygonpolymer
In a sentence
The letter of Polycarp to the Philippians quotes half the New Testament from memory.