Clarissa

See also: clarissa

English

Title page of Richardson's Clarissa

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian Clarissa, from Medieval Latin Clarissa; see there for more. Popularized in English by Samuel Richardson's 1748 novel Clarissa. Doublet of Clarisse, Clare, Claire, and Clarist.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kləˈɹɪsə/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Rhymes: -ɪsə

Proper noun

Clarissa

A female given name from Latin or Italian.
- 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa:
  My wife's maiden name—Unmarried name, I should rather say […] was Harlowe—Clarissa Harlowe—you heard me call her my Clarissa—
  I did—but I thought it to be a feigned or a love-name, said Miss Rawlins. […]
  No—it was her real name, I said.

Related terms

Clarice, Clarisse

Noun

Clarissa (plural Clarissas)

(Catholicism) Synonym of Poor Clare: a nun of the Order of Saint Clare.
- 1991, Thomas Head, "Clare of Assisi", An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers:
  Following Francis' example, Clare founded an order of religious women known as the Poor Ladies of Assisi (like Francis' Poor Men), and later as the Clarissas or Poor Clares in her honor.
- 1992, Caroline A. Bruzelius, "Hearing Is Believing: Clarissan Architecture, ca. 1213–1340", Gesta, Vol. 31, No. 2, p. 85:
  In the protomonastero of Santa Chiara in Assisi, erected from the outset for the Clarissas, however, equally frequent changes and modifications in the location of the nuns' choir suggest that there were still uncertainties as to the best place for it.
- 1995, Caroline A. Bruzelius, "Queen Sancia of Mallorca and the Convent Church of Sta. Chiara in Naples", Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 40, p. 75:
  The rule of Urban IV also clarified the nomenclature of the Clarissas, with the pope designating the group as the Order of St. Claire rather than Poor Ladies, or Poor Recluses, of San Damiano.

Alternative forms

clarissa

Derived terms

Clarissan, Clarissian

Translations

female given name

French: Clarisse (fr)
Italian: Clarissa (it)
Latin: Clarissa
Polish: Klarysa (pl) f

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Clarissa; see there for more. Doublet of Chiara and Clara. As a female name, popularized by English Clarice, Clarisse, etc.

Noun

Clarissa f (plural Clarisse)

Alternative letter-case form of clarissa: a member of the Order of Saint Clare

Proper noun

Clarissa f

a female given name

Latin

Etymology

From Clara +‎ -issa (“-ess”), from Italian Chiara Offreduccio, St. Clare of Assisi, the founder of the order, from Latin clarus (“clear, bright”). Doublet of Clara.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /klaˈris.sa/, [kɫ̪äˈrɪs̠ːä]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /klaˈris.sa/, [kläˈrisːä]

Noun

Clarissa f

(Medieval) Alternative letter-case form of clarissa: a member of the Order of Saint Clare.

Proper noun

Clarissa f

(Medieval) a female given name

Descendants

English: Clarissa
French: Clarisse
- English: Clarisse, Clarice
Italian: Clarissa