Saturday, May 25, 2013

"I've got catholic tastes. Catholic with a small 'c,' of course."


       How did "Catholic" become a secular word as well as religious?  The answer surprises me.  Anthony Burgess's small "c" "catholic tastes" (or your or my such usage, signifying "broad" or "general") preceded the religious use.

       It was a secular word before it became a religious one with a large "C."  The word dates to pre-Christian Greece and Rome, deriving from Greek katholikos, "universal."

       The first  upper case use is in a letter from Ignatius of Antioch in about 107:  "Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude [of the people] also be; even as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."
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1 comment:

  1. anniemacJune 3, 2013 at 1:03 AM

    interesting point of view of the word catholic. having been raised one, and still practicing. I do recall in religious school that catholic meant universal as to mean all one church, one faith, no deviation.

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