Thecla
/θɛklə/
Thecla proper noun: a female given name from Ancient Greek.
Proper noun
Thecla
- A female given name from Ancient Greek.
- An early Christian saint, whose life is recorded in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla.
- One of the first of the virgin saints to act as an important role model for women was Thecla, the legendary disciple of St Paul.1990, Karen Armstrong, 8: Karen Armstrong: The Acts of Paul and Thecla, Ann Loades, Feminist Theology: A Reader, page 83
- In the context of impending martyrdom, the beauty of Thecla’s virgin body connotes dynamis owing less to the eros she evokes and more to the chastity, piety, and resistance she promotes.⁶⁹
- That Thecla is also an object of erotic desire, however, is evidenced in men's reactions to her.2002, Mary F. Foskett, A Virgin Conceived: Mary and Classical Representations of Virginity, page 106
Thecla meaning in Arabic
Thecla in Arabic
- female given name
- تَقْلَا taqlā
Forms of Thecla
| alternative form | Theckla |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Thekla |
Origin of Thecla
From Late Latin Thecla, from Koine Greek Θέκλα (Thékla), chiefly for St Thecla, an apocryphal early Christian martyr whose name might derive from hellenicization of a local Luwic name or from some contraction of θεο- (theo-, “God, God's, godly”) + -κλῆς (-klês, “glory”).
Questions about Thecla
- What does Thecla mean?
- Thecla means a female given name from Ancient Greek.
- What is Thecla in Arabic?
- Thecla in Arabic is تَقْلَا (taqlā). See Thecla meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is Thecla?
- Thecla is a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce Thecla?
- Thecla is pronounced /θɛklə/.
Words near Thecla in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Thecla (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “Thecla.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thecla. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.