Catholic (term) Catholic (term) The word catholic (with lowercase "c"; derived via Late Latin "catholicus", from the Greek adjective ("katholikos"), meaning "universal") comes from the Greek phrase ("katholou"), meaning "on the whole", "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole". The term Catholic (usually written with uppercase "C" in English) was first used to describe the Christian Church in the early 2nd century to emphasize its universal scope. In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. The word in English can mean either "of
The Meaning of Liff The Meaning of Liff The Meaning of Liff (UK Edition: , US Edition: ) is a humorous dictionary of toponymy and etymology, written by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd, published in the United Kingdom in 1983 and the United States in 1984. The book is a "dictionary of things that there aren't any words for yet". Rather than inventing new words, Adams and Lloyd picked a number of existing place-names and assigned interesting meanings to them, meanings that can be regarded as on the verge of social existence and ready to become recognisable entities. All the words listed are toponyms