Cathar
(ˈkæθə(r))
Also -are. Pl. Cathars, ‖ Cathari.
[ad. med.L. Cathari: see Catharan.]
= Catharan. Also used attrib. or as adj.
| 1637 Gillespie Eng. Pop. Cerem. ii. v. 24 The old Waldenses before us, were also named by their adversaries, Cathares or Puritanes. 1806 M. Pembridge Roman Cath. Ch. Vind. iii. 560 There was another sect, of Cathari, or Catharists, so named from a Greek word, signifying a cleansing or purging, from a certain execrable manner of cleansing from their execrable uncleanness, that they made use of. 1907 Cath. Encycl. I. 557/1 The Cathares and the Patarines. 1910 Encycl. Brit. V. 515/2 Cathars (Cathari or Catharists). 1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. II. xxxiii. 465/2 In the south of France the people..were called the Cathars or Albigenses. 1927 F. J. E. Raby Hist. Chr.-Lat. Poetry xiii. 416 Based like the Cathar and Waldensian [religions], on poverty and renunciation. 1947 S. Runciman Med. Manichee vi. 125 The Dualism of the Cathars. Ibid. 126 In England Cathar heretics were found as late as 1210. |