Katherine

August 14, 2014 § 13 Comments

ORIGIN:
Alternately spelled “Katharine“, “Catherine” / “Catharine”, etc., from the Greek for “pure”.

VARIATIONS and NICKNAMES:
Cadi, Cady, Cait, Caitlin, Caitlyn, Caity, Caren, Carina, Casia, Cat, Catalina, Cate, Catey, Catharine, Catherine, Cathie, Cathleen, Cathrine, Cathryn, Cathy, Catie, Cato, Catrina, Catrine, Catriona, Caty, Catya, Ekaterina, Ina, Jekaterina, Kady, Kaia, Kaisa, Kaitlin, Kaitlyn, Kaity, Kaja, Kalena, Karen, Karin, Karina, Kasia, Kat, Kata, Katalin, Kate, Katenka, Katerina, Katey, Katharina, Katharine, Kathi, Kathie, Kathleen, Kathrine, Kathryn, Kathy, Kati, Katie, Katinka, Katja, Katka, Katri, Katrina, Katrine, Katy, Katya, Kay, Kaya, Kit, Kitti, Kittie, Kitty, Kylee, Kyleen, Nienke, Nina, Rina, Riona, Tina, Tineke, Trina, Trine, Yekaterina, etc.

REFERENCES IN LITERATURE:
– Katherine Bennet (called “Katy“), who is ridiculous because she is wise, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories by Nora Perry (1889).
– Grandma Katherine Bennet, for whom Katy is named, and in whose memory Grandpa Bennet remains in their little old house in their increasingly-unfashionable neighborhood, in “That Ridiculous Child”, from The Youngest Miss Lorton, and Other Stories.

QUOTATIONS:
– From “Epistle to Earl Harcourt, on his wishing her to spell her name of Catherine with a K“, by an unknown poet (“F—-“), found in A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, and from Living Authors (1823), edited by Joanna Baillie: “To Katherines lawfully baptiz’d. / What has not Shakspeare said and sung, / Of our pre-eminence of tongue! / . . . See him the comic muse invoking, / (The merry nymph with laughter choking) / While he exhibits at her shrine / The unhallow’d form of Katherine . . . / So that in Shakspeare’s time ’tis plain, / The Katherines were scolds in grain, / No females louder, fiercer, worse”

WRITERS:
– Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923), English author.
– Katherine Paterson (b. 1932), American author.
– Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), American activist, journalist, and writer.

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