Caritas means love in Latin.
The etymology of this word dates back to the Ancient Greek word kara=head, which used to be one of the favorite endearments of the ancient Greeks to express love, affection, admiration or/and honor to a person, the same way we use the word sweetheart. For example, the phrase “ὦ κοινὸν αὐτάδελφον Ἰσμήνης κάρα” that is translated “Ismene, sister, mine own dear sister” in the tragedy “Antigone” by Sophocles.
The Latins who imitated the ancient Greeks in coining phrases as well, used in a tragedy the phrase “Ο cara conjux”, i.e. “oh conjugal head, oh dear wife”.
Maintaining the root, the subsequent European languages created a great number of words, such as: cher, chérie, caro (dear), caresse (caress), care, caressing, cara (face), charité, charity, carita, caridad etc.