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Help[Facts] Question on Catherine
What is the true meaning of Catherine, My name, I have read most books
it means Katharos-Pure, but I also read it meant Innocence or Truth, and another website it said it was hebrew for Laurel of love, not sure if i should trust that site anyway not too good at etymology yet but i tried to look up parts of the name
cata- Look up cata- at Dictionary.com
from Gk. kata-, before vowels kat-. Its principal sense is "down, downward," but with occasional senses of "against" or "wrongly." Also sometimes used as an intensive or with a sense of completion of action. Very active in ancient Greek, this prefix is found in English mostly in words borrowed through Latin after 1500.
cata-
a prefix meaning “down,” “against,” “back,” occurring originally in loanwords from Greek (cataclysm; catalog; catalepsy); on this model, used in the formation of other compound words (catagenesis; cataphyll).
Also, cat-, cath-, kata-.L. cata tumbas "at the graves," from cata- "among" + tumbas. accusative plural of tumba "tomb" (see tomb). Extended by 1836 to any subterranean receptacle of the dead (as in Paris).catamaran Look up catamaran at Dictionary.com
1670s, from Tamil kattu-maram "tied wood," from kattu "tie, binding" + maram "wood, tree."catarrh Look up catarrh at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from M.L. catarrus, from L.L. catarrhus, from Gk. katarrhous "a catarrh, a head cold," lit. "a flowing down," from kata- "down" + rhein "to flow
so does it mean Cata "Down" -reine "queen", Catareine
Or Cath-Pure Erine?From Greek Ειρηνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning "peace". I don't know, just wondering....
it means Katharos-Pure, but I also read it meant Innocence or Truth, and another website it said it was hebrew for Laurel of love, not sure if i should trust that site anyway not too good at etymology yet but i tried to look up parts of the name
cata- Look up cata- at Dictionary.com
from Gk. kata-, before vowels kat-. Its principal sense is "down, downward," but with occasional senses of "against" or "wrongly." Also sometimes used as an intensive or with a sense of completion of action. Very active in ancient Greek, this prefix is found in English mostly in words borrowed through Latin after 1500.
cata-
a prefix meaning “down,” “against,” “back,” occurring originally in loanwords from Greek (cataclysm; catalog; catalepsy); on this model, used in the formation of other compound words (catagenesis; cataphyll).
Also, cat-, cath-, kata-.L. cata tumbas "at the graves," from cata- "among" + tumbas. accusative plural of tumba "tomb" (see tomb). Extended by 1836 to any subterranean receptacle of the dead (as in Paris).catamaran Look up catamaran at Dictionary.com
1670s, from Tamil kattu-maram "tied wood," from kattu "tie, binding" + maram "wood, tree."catarrh Look up catarrh at Dictionary.com
late 14c., from M.L. catarrus, from L.L. catarrhus, from Gk. katarrhous "a catarrh, a head cold," lit. "a flowing down," from kata- "down" + rhein "to flow
so does it mean Cata "Down" -reine "queen", Catareine
Or Cath-Pure Erine?From Greek Ειρηνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning "peace". I don't know, just wondering....
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Replies
If you click on Katherine, you'll find what this site gives as its explanation. It lists various possibilities and points out that there doesn't seem to be one single correct answer.
It is clear that the original meaning was not 'pure'. However, parents have been naming their daughters Catherine for many centuries on the assumption that it does mean 'pure', so that belief was valid for their naming choice though not for the original meaning of the name.
It is clear that the original meaning was not 'pure'. However, parents have been naming their daughters Catherine for many centuries on the assumption that it does mean 'pure', so that belief was valid for their naming choice though not for the original meaning of the name.
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I think it actually makes sense to describe the Western European forms of Catherine/Katherine as historically being a blend between the original Aikaterine and the word katharos meaning "pure".
If the confusion with the word had never developed, would we have lost the first syllable and added the "h"? I think that's unlikely, so it seems to me as if the katharos confusion is actually part of the etymology of the modern Western forms.
If the confusion with the word had never developed, would we have lost the first syllable and added the "h"? I think that's unlikely, so it seems to me as if the katharos confusion is actually part of the etymology of the modern Western forms.
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