catholic: [14] Etymologically, the Catholic Church is the universal church, comprising all Christians. For catholic comes ultimately from a Greek word, katholikós, meaning ‘relating to all, general’. It was a derivative of kathólou, a compound formed from katá ‘relating to’ and hólos ‘whole’ (source of English holism and holistic). It passed into English via Old French catholique or ecclesiastical Latin catholicus. Its original meaning is preserved today in such contexts as ‘catholic tastes’ – that is, ‘wideranging tastes’. => holistic
