Everyday LifeGreek → English
Thecla
/ˈθɛklə/proper noun
A female given name, borne by the early saint of Iconium.
The Greek roots
θεός
theós
god
κλέος
kléos
glory, fame
Literally: “glory of God”
The story of the word
The second-century Acts of Paul and Thecla has her leave her fiancé to follow Paul, survive fire and wild beasts, and baptise herself when no one else will. The name is generally read as a contraction of θεός and κλέος, glory of God, the same κλέος Homeric heroes die to obtain. It survives as Θέκλα in Greek, Tecla in Spanish and Italian, and as the name of a large genus of hairstreak butterflies.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
Same family
theologyCleopatraPericlestheocracy
In a sentence
The village church is one of the few in the region dedicated to Saint Thecla.