Today’s word of the day, courtesy of the Words Coach (https://www.wordscoach.com/dictionary), is charity. Pronounced / ˈtʃær ɪ ti /, it can mean “generous actions or donations to aid people who are poor, ill, or needy,” “something given to a person or persons in need,” “benevolent feeling, especially toward those in need or in disfavor,” “leniency in judging others,” “Christian love,” and a few other variations (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/charity). Merriam-Webster adds “benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/charity), which I suspect is what Dictionary.com means by “Christian love.” About its pronunciation, you will notice that the vowel in the unstressed middle syllable does not conform to the general rule that in English unstressed vowels tend toward schwa. That is probably due to assimilation.

The word first appears in “late Old English, ‘benevolence for the poor,’ also ‘Christian love in its highest manifestation,’ from Old French charité ‘(Christian) charity, mercy, compassion; alms; charitable foundation’ (12c.), from Latin caritatem (nominative caritas) ‘costliness; esteem, affection,’ from carus “In the Vulgate the Latin word often is used as translation of Greek agape ‘love’—especially Christian love of fellow man—perhaps to avoid the sexual suggestion of Latin amor). The Vulgate also sometimes translated agape by Latin dilectio, noun of action from diligere ‘to esteem highly, to love’ (see diligence).
“’Wyclif and the Rhemish version regularly rendered the Vulgate dilectio by “love,” caritas by “charity.” But the 16th c. Eng. versions from Tindale to 1611, while rendering agape sometimes “love,” sometimes “charity,” did not follow the dilectio and caritas of the Vulgate, but used “love” more often (about 86 times), confining “charity” to 26 passages in the Pauline and certain of the Catholic Epistles (not in I John), and the Apocalypse …. In the Revised Version 1881, “love” has been substituted in all these instances, so that it now stands as the uniform rendering of agape. [OED]
“The general sense of ‘affections people ought to feel for one another’ is from c. 1300. Also from c. 1300 as ‘an act of kindness or philanthropy,’ also ‘alms, that which is bestowed gratuitously on a person or persons in need.’ The sense of ‘charitable foundation or institution’ in English is attested by 1690s. The meaning ‘liberality in judging others or their actions’ is from late 15c. A charity-school (1680s) educated (and sometimes housed and fed) poor children and was maintained by voluntary contributions or bequests” (https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=charity).

A couple of notes. First, the Vulgate is a “late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to revise the Vetus Latina Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initiative, Jerome extended this work of revision and translation to include most of the books of the Bible. The Vulgate was progressively adopted as the Bible text within the Western Church. Over succeeding centuries, it eventually eclipsed the Vetus Latina texts. By the 13^th century it had taken over from the former version the designation versio vulgata (the ‘version commonly used’) or vulgata for short” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgate). In other words, it was the standard Bible in Western Christendom for more than a thousand years.

Second, in one of the most famous passages in all the letters of St. Paul, the word charity is actually used in the King James Bible where most of us are used to the word love, from the NIV. The passage is 1 Corinthians 13: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (KJV). The Latin in the Vulgate reads, “Nunc autem manent fides, spes, caritas, tria haec: major autem horum est caritas” (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%2013&version=VULGATE;NIV).

I have heard numerous people over my many years talk about the paucity of love language in English. They say that Greek has multiple words for different kinds of love: eros (romantic love), philia (friendship), storge (familial love), agape (selfless love), ludus (playful love), and pragma (enduring love). Latin also has words for different kinds of love: amor, caritas (selfless love), diligo (to esteem or cherish), and cupido (desire or longing) But English has only the word love, which can lead to misunderstandings. For instance, in the famous maxim “The love of money is the root of all evil,” what kind of love are we talking about? The Latin makes it clear: Cupiditas radix malorum est. Cupiditas is better translated as “desire for” or even “lusting after.” The English word cupidity, which clearly derives from cupiditas, is translated by Merriam-Webster as “inordinate desire for wealth : avarice, greed” or “strong desire : lust” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cupidity).

In one respect, it is a shame that the word charity has come to mean, almost exclusively, giving something to someone in need. We have lost an alternative love word.

According to On This Day, on this date in 1683, “King Louis XIV expels all Jews from French possessions in the Americas” (https://www.onthisday.com/events/september/24).

JewishWebsight, a media outlet that is concerned with Jewish life, history, culture, and news, says, “French King Louis XIV ordered Jews expelled from French colonies in North America on this date in 1683. The order was mostly ignored where it would be most relevant, in Martinique, the Caribbean land with the largest Jewish population. France had conquered Martinique in 1635; Jews had arrived there with the Dutch in the previous century, and it was a Sephardic Jew, Benjamin d’Acosta, who introduced the cultivation of the sugar-cane into the island’s slave system” (https://jewishwebsite.com/featured/september-24th-1683-french-king-louis-xiv-ordered-jews-expelled-from-french-colonies-in-north-america/46934/).

The website continues, “Louis XIV’s order was reiterated in the ‘Code Noir’ in 1685, which defined laws for slave-ownership in the French empire, restricted the activities of free Africans, banned all religions but Catholicism, and ordered all Jews out of the colonies. Again, the decree was largely ignored” (ibid.).

The first article of the Black Code says, “We desire and we expect that the Edict of 23 April 1615 of the late King, our most honored lord and father who remains glorious in our memory, be executed in our islands. This accomplished, we enjoin all of our officers to chase from our islands all the Jews who have established residence there. As with all declared enemies of Christianity, we command them to be gone within three months of the day of issuance of the present [order], at the risk of confiscation of their persons and their goods” (https://revolution.chnm.org/d/335/).

In their history, the Jews have been expelled from various and sundry places over 1000 times, and this was just one of those times. It’s interesting that JewishWebsight says that the expulsion order was ignored, but that is not surprising given that the colonies were far, far away from Louis XIV and his power, but it is still disturbing that such an order was given. It doesn’t exactly demonstrate “Christian charity.”

Martinique, by the way, is an island in the Lesser Antilles, in the Eastern Caribbean, and is a still a territory of France. Today’s image is a picture of Salines Beach on the St. Anne Peninsula. I chose it because, well, I didn’t want to post a picture of King Louis XIV; there’s a man who has had way too much publicity.