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ArchivesRe: Question on Catherine
in reply to a message by Mercy Joy
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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