Etymologically
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katholisch

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Pronunciation

  • /kaˈtoːlɪʃ/[1]

Forms

katholisch (strong nominative masculine singular katholischer, comparative katholischer, superlative am katholischsten)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin catholicus (“universal; orthodox”), borrowed in the 16th century, though the Latin word already appears in Old High German texts of the 8th century.[2][3][4] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek καθολικός (katholikós, “general, universal”), from καθόλου (kathólou, “on the whole, in general”), a fusion of κατά (katá, “down; throughout”) with the genitive of ὅλος (hólos, “whole”), so properly “over the whole”.[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Greek adjective was applied to the Christian Church from the 2nd century, by Ignatius of Antioch, meaning “true, orthodox” with reference to the whole body of believers.[4][3] In German it is recorded from the 16th century.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Kluge traces the sense from the universal Church as against a local church, to the whole body of the faithful, then to the orthodox as against followers of other confessions, and finally to the name of one confession.[2] Paul dates the confessional sense, as in römisch-katholisch, to the Enlightenment.[4] Katholik arose about 1700, at first spelled Catholicke under French influence, replacing der Katholische (1583); Katholizismus is recorded in 1685.[3][4]

The Grimms record popular phrases: in Protestant Saxony and Thuringia das ist zum Katholischwerden was a cry of despair, while in Bavaria and Austria katholisch meant “right, proper”, so that da geht's nicht katholisch zu meant “something is not right there”.[7][4]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Latin catholicus in Old High German texts.[3][4]
  • 16th century – katholisch is borrowed into German.[2][3]
  • 1583 – der Katholische for a Catholic.[4]
  • 1685 – First record of Katholizismus.[4]
  • 1715 – Catholicke, the forerunner of Katholik.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Catholic, belonging to the Roman Catholic Church and its faith, with the Pope at its head: ein katholischer Pfarrer;[8][1] (colloquial) die Katholischen “the Catholics”.[8][1]
  2. Of the Church of Christ: universal, embracing the whole world: die katholischen Briefe “the Catholic Epistles”.[8][6]

Word family

  • Katholizismus
  • altkatholisch
  • römisch-katholisch
  • Katholik

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 481
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  6. ^ a b Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  7. ^ Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 11, 277
  8. ^ a b c Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag