Charis ( grc-gre, Χάρις) is a given name derived from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word meaning "grace, kindness, and life." In

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, a Charis is one of the

Charites In Greek mythology, the Charites ( ), singular ''Charis'', or Graces, were three or more goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity, goodwill, and fertility. Hesiod names three – Aglaea ("Shining"), Euphrosyne ("Joy"), and Thalia ...

( el, Χάριτες) or "Graces", goddesses of charm, beauty, nature, human creativity and fertility; and in

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the '' Iliad'' and the '' Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

'', Charis is the wife of

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter ...

. Charis was also known as

Cale Cale may refer to: People * Cale (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Calé, an endonym used by Romani subgroups in Spain and Portugal Places * Cale, Arkansas, a town in Nevada County, Arkansas, United States ...

("Beauty") or

Aglaea Aglaea () or Aglaïa (; grc, Ἀγλαΐα, lit=festive radiance) is one of the three '' Charites'' or ''Gratiae'' (Graces) in Greek mythology. Family According to Hesiod, Aglaea is the youngest of the Charites, the three daughters of Zeus ...

("Splendor").Theoi.com: Kharis Algaia
/ref> Charis is also the

Sparta Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...

n name of a Grace. In the Greek and Hebrew biblical term Charis (χάρις) refers to good will, loving-kindness, favour, in particular to God's merciful grace. It is used over 140 times in the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

and is a central concept in the theology developed by St.

Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

. It is used in the descriptive

epithet An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...

of many plant

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

and species. Including; '' Ammocharis'' (meaning sand and beauty), '' Eleocharis'' (meaning marsh and beauty), '' Englerocharis'', '' Eucharis'' (meaning good and beauty), '' Hydrocharis'' (meaning water and beauty), '' Nomocharis'', ''Argostemma phyllocharis'' (meaning leaf and beauty) and ''Pimelea ammocharis''.

References

English feminine given names Greek feminine given names Greek masculine given names New Testament Greek words and phrases {{name-stub

See also

References