Tag: Catholicism

• “Minneapolis” means “Waterfall City”

  

  A schoolmaster combined Dakota and Greek words to propose an official name for the city in the 1850s.

  John Kelly

  January 18, 2026

  Feature

• The “key” to the etymology of “conclave”

  

  Sometimes you just have to lock cardinals up in a room.

  John Kelly

  May 4, 2025

  Feature

• The etymology of “pope”: a warm word of hope?

  

  The origin of the word “pope” fits its late bearer, Pope Francis, and for all its baggage, might just provide a much needed alternative model of masculinity for our times.

  John Kelly

  April 22, 2025

  Feature

• Gaudí gaudy or gaudy Gaudí?

  My wife and I are enjoying a long weekend in beautiful Barcelona, a city graced with the dreamy and daring architecture of Antoni Gaudí. Many like to claim that English gets its word gaudy thanks to the architect’s distinctive style. Gaudí looks and sounds like gaudy. Some may even characterize his works as gaudy. But…

  John Kelly

  September 16, 2016

  Uncategorized

• From shoreline to sainthood: the origin of “canonize”

  This Sunday, Pope Francis canonized Mother Teresa as a saint, joining her with 10,000 other such holy figures in the Catholic Church. That’s a lot of saints, but canonize is still a relatively rare word. So, why is this process called canonization? Canonize To canonize is to place a deceased person in the Church’s canon of…

  John Kelly

  September 6, 2016

  Uncategorized