papal

Forms

papal m or f (masculine and feminine plural papales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin papālis.^[1][2] The DCECH, the BDELC and DICCA-XV list it among the derivatives of papa “pope”.^[3][4][5] The Latin adjective is formed from Late Latin papa (“pope”) with the suffix -ālis.^[1]

The Late Latin noun comes from Ancient Greek πάπας (pápas, “priest, bishop; also dad”), a form of πάππας (páppas, “papa, daddy”), a term of respect for clerics.^[6][7][3][1] In Latin it meant “bishop” from the 3rd century.^[3] From the 5th century it was restricted to the bishop of Rome.^[3] The same adjective is Catalan papal, Portuguese papal, French papal and Italian papale.^[8][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest hit in the CDH is a charter of 1321 selling a water right to a monastery, which renounces all priuilegios reales et papales “royal and papal privileges”.^[9] The DCECH and the BDELC date the word only from the 15th century.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century Villasandino writes of la bula del sello papal “the bull with the papal seal”, and San Vicente Ferrer of la dignidat papal.^[9] Percyvall in 1591 glosses it “belonging to the pope”.^[10] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Ayala's Estado Papal “Papal State”, and records two phrases: iglesia papal, a church where the prelate fills all the prebends, and zapatos papales, large shoes worn over ordinary ones against the cold and the mud, named after the ones the pope wears in church ceremonies.^[11] Alemany in 1917 adds the familiar vida papal.^[12] In the Americas the word appears from 1565, in Nueva Galicia, of a papal excommunication.^[13]

Timeline

• 1321 – priuilegios reales et papales in a charter.^[9]
• 1379–1425 – Villasandino's sello papal (in a copy of c. 1465).^[9]
• 1411–1412 – San Vicente Ferrer's dignidat papal (in a copy of 1448).^[9]
• 1400s – the date of first record in the DCECH and the BDELC.^[3][4]
• 1565 – first record in the Americas, in Nueva Galicia.^[13]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it “belonging to the pope”.^[10]
• 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records iglesia papal and zapatos papales.^[11]
• 1917 – Alemany adds vida papal.^[12]

Meanings

Adjective

1. papal: of or relating to the pope: Miles de fieles esperaban la bendición papal en la plaza.^{[6][14][15][1]}

Related words

• papa
• papado
• papable
• Medieval Latin papālis

Usage notes

Iglesia papal and zapatos papales are set phrases.^[6][11] The same spelling papal is also a noun of the Americas, “field planted with potatoes”, formed from papa “potato” with -al.^[16][17] DAMER records it from Mexico and Central America to Chile and Argentina, and in Central America also for a large quantity of potatoes; a text from New Granada of 1775 already speaks of papales.^[18][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 2463
3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 382
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. papa
5. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. papal
6. ^ a b c Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. papal
7. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. papa
8. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. papal
9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. papal
10. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 184
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 5, 112
12. ^ a b Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 1258
13. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. papal
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. papal
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. papal 2
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. papal 2
17. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. papal
18. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. papal