papacy

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English papacie, also papassie,^[2][1] borrowed from Medieval Latin papatia (“papal office”),^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} which is recorded in a British source before 1140.^[3] The OED takes the Latin noun as probably an alteration of papatus after other abstract nouns in -ia, such as abbatia, the source of abbacy;^[3][7] it is formed on Late Latin pāpa (“pope”),^[4][6][5][7] which is from Ancient Greek παπᾶς (papâs, “patriarch, bishop”), a variant of πάππας (páppas), a child's word for father.^[3][4] Johnson derived it from French papat and papauté.^[9] The Old English word for the office was papdom.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The office of pope, or a pope's term of office: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, where a pope His Papacie anon hath weyved, Renounced, and resigned.^[3][2][5] Gower uses the word six times.^[10]

Semantic evolution

In the Reformation period the word came to mean the papal system of church government (1535, in a letter of Cranmer),^[3][11] and then, often disparagingly, the doctrines and practices of Roman Catholicism (1599).^[3] Etymonline dates the system sense to the 1540s.^[4] Purchas (1613) once extended it to the caliphate.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "popedom; office and dignity of bishops of Rome", quoting Bacon.^[9] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records the sense "a line of popes".^[7]

Timeline

• before 1393 – the office of pope; a pope's term of office.^[3][2][5]
• 1535 – the system of government headed by the pope.^[3] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.^[4]
• 1599 – the doctrines and practices of Roman Catholicism, often derogatory.^[3]
• 1613 – a caliphate (rare, obsolete).^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office, rank or authority of the pope: He was elected to the papacy in his seventies.^[12][7][3]
2. The period during which a pope holds office.^[12][7][3]
3. A succession of popes.^[7][4]
4. The system of government of the Roman Catholic Church, with the pope at its head; often capitalized.^[12][7][3]
5. (often derogatory) The doctrines and practices of Roman Catholicism; papism.^[3]

Word family

• antipapacy

Related words

• papal
• papism
• pope
• papa
• abbacy
• papist

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins