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The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need, as a humanitarian act. ==Etymology== The word ''"charity"'' entered the English language through the Old French word "''charité''" which was derived from the Latin "''caritas''".〔(The Online Etymology Dictionary )〕 Originally in Latin the word ''caritas'' meant preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, ''caritas'' became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word ''Αγάπη'', meaning an unconditional love for others. This much wider concept is the meaning of the word charity in the Christian triplet "faith, hope and charity", as used by the Douay-Rheims and the King James Version of the Bible in their translation of St Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. However the English word more generally used for this concept, both before and since (and by the "King James" Bible at other passages), is the more direct ''love''. (See the article ''Charity (virtue)'') St Paul's ''agapē'' was ''not'' primarily about good works and giving to the poor (''And though I feed the poor with all my goods, and though I give my body, that I be burned, and have not love ''()'', it profiteth me nothing'' – 1 Cor 13:3, Geneva translation, 1560), although in English the word "charity" has steadily acquired this as its primary meaning, wherein it was first used in Old French at least since the year 1200 A.D.. While the methods of giving may vary (food, money, clothing, health care), there are three main kinds of charity: pure, public, and foreign. Pure charity is entirely gratuitous. Public charity is charity that benefits the whole rather than the individual. Foreign charity is when the beneficiary lives in a country different from where the funds or services are being sent from.〔Black's Law Dictionary (6th ed. West 1990)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charity (practice)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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