View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: Katherine
Katherine doesn’t mean “pure”. Early Christians changed the spelling so it would look more like the Greek word for “pure”, but that’s not where the name actually comes from.
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

In the early Christian era it became associated with Greek καθαρός (katharos) meaning "pure", and the Latin spelling was changed from Katerina to Katharina to reflect this.Katherine comes from Katharos. Literally meaning “pure”. Either how, it’s not like it matters anyway.
vote up1
Accuracy always matters. The point is not that Katharine comes from katharos - it doesn't. The point is how it got there. If you want to be accurate, you can say that, although the original meaning of Katharine is not certain, modern parents who read unscholarly name meanings of the 'Katharine means Pure' variety may choose the name for their daughter because they find 'pure' a positive meaning. Of course, this doesn't make it an accurate meaning, but it is meaningful for them.I am afraid that you do not seem to value accuracy in the same way that most of your fellow-posters do. I can't tell you what to do with your life, but nor can I appreciate where you are at the moment.
vote up1