Burned by Occam's Razor again.

WHEN one is looking for a dictionary of first names at school, one should begin by looking at the list of available dictionaries and encyclopedias. What the fuck. From the Oxford Dictionary of First Names:

Katherine -  The name is of unknown etymology; the suggestion that it may be derived from Hecate, the pagan goddess of magic and enchantment, is not convincing. From an early date, it was associated with the Greek adjective katharos ‘pure’. This led to spellings with -th- and to a change in the middle vowel.

SO claims I've ready of the association with pure being folk etymology are correct, but it is old enough that it counts. All that is left here is to find out who is associating it with Hecate. Because seriously, you old men are avoiding this topic. Oxford debunks it. From whom. Where is it? Damn them for not needing to explain themselves.

Oxford also gave me more Shakespeare - I've never read any histories so I was unaware: "It was used by Shakespeare for two important characters: the daughter of the King of France who is wooed and won by King Henry V, and the ‘shrew’ in The Taming of the Shrew."

If Shakespeare had such a clear idea of what girls named Katherine are like, where did it COME from??