Message
The earliest citation in the OED is from
the 15th c.:
He was a constant Catholike,
All Lollard he hatyt and
Heretike.
[Andrew of Wyntoun, ca. 1425, _Orygynale
Cronykil of Scotland_ 9:26]
The OED defines this particular sense
as:
A member of a church recognized or claiming
to be "Catholic" [...]; e.g. an orthodox member of the Church before the
disruption of East and West, as opposed to an Arian or other "heretic"; of the
Latin Church as opposed to the Greek or any separating sect or community (e.g.
the Lollards); of a church or churches now taken to represent the primitive
Church.
After 1500 the word was used very commonly
in what can be regarded as its modern sense. There's a long explanatory note in
the OED about the ecclesiastical use of the word, also outside English. If
you're interested, I can post it off-list.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 4:05 PM
Subject: [tied] 'catholic' in OE
Sorry for
possible offtopic.
Merriam
Webster says the word catholik is registered in OE since 14 c. but
doesn't list the sources -- and that's what I need. Does anybody have an OED to
hand? Thanks in advance.