papal

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English papal,^[2][3] borrowed from Middle French papal^[4][3][5] and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin pāpālis (“belonging to the pope”),^[4][5][6][2] formed from Late Latin pāpa (“pope”) with the suffix -ālis.^[4][3][5] The French word is recorded from 1315,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman papal from about 1275.^[7] The Late Latin title, in Ecclesiastical Latin a bishop's and especially the bishop of Rome's,^[8][9] goes back through Greek to Ancient Greek πάππας (páppas, “papa, daddy”).^[10][9] Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese and Italian have the same adjective: papal, papal, papal, papale.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or belonging to the pope: before 1393, in Gower's Confessio Amantis, which speaks of the pope's Papal Autorite.^[4][2][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that papal, like papacy, was a later learned borrowing beside the native pope, which goes back to Old English.^[9] Beside its neutral sense, from 1593 (in Marlowe's Massacre at Paris) to 1815 it was also used disparagingly, like popish, for anything to do with popery,^[4][11] and in 1611 the noun papal meant a papist.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as "popish; belonging to the pope".^[12] From 1701 it could also describe a person who is a pope.^[4] Modern dictionaries also use it for the Roman Catholic Church in general.^[3][11]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – Anglo-Norman papal.^[7]
• before 1393 – of or relating to the pope, in Gower.^[4][2]
• before 1593 – disparagingly, popish (obsolete after 1815).^[4]
• 1611 – noun, a papist (rare).^[4]
• 1701 – that is a pope.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to a pope or the papacy, or issued by a pope: a papal decree.^[3][13][4]
2. Of or relating to the Roman Catholic Church.^[3][11]
3. (obsolete, 1593–1815) Popish; used disparagingly.^[4][12]

Word family

• papally
• antipapal
• nonpapal
• papalism
• papalize
• unpapal
• papal bull
• papal cross

Related words

• papacy
• pope
• papa
• papist
• popish

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ 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.
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins