Etymologically
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papal

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈpeɪpəl/[1]

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

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