Katharos

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A term from ancient Greek meaning pure or clean, often used in philosophical and religious contexts to imply moral clarity or refinement
2. Referring to something that is untainted and genuine; in various disciplines, it can denote an ideal state of purity or unspoiled condition
3. Denoting the absence of any impurity or contamination, this word signifies a state of cleanliness both in physical and ethical representations

Etymology: The Cathars, a Christian movement that flourished in southern France in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, took their name from this Greek adjective. Medieval Latin "Cathari" comes from Greek "katharoi," meaning "the pure ones." The name was probably one the movement's members used for themselves, though the sources are not fully clear on this. In Greek usage the word covered both the literal and the moral. It described clean cloth, unpolluted water, and ritually cleansed people, and it could also mean innocent or free from guilt. Philosophers and religious writers extended that sense toward inner purity. The word also gave English "catharsis," which Aristotle used in his "Poetics" (around 335 BCE) to describe the emotional purging an audience feels from tragedy. English adopted that term in the 1600s, and the "cathartic" family followed. Both the Cathar name and "catharsis" come from this same root.

Synonyms: pure, clean, spotless, immaculate, chaste

Antonyms: impure, dirty, unclean, tainted, polluted