pontificalis

Forms

pontificālis (neuter pontificāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pontifex (“pontiff, priest”) + -ālis.^[2][1] De Vaan treats that noun under pōns (“bridge”) and says that most scholars agree it should be read as “bridge-maker”, in the sense of one who mediates between gods and men.^[3] He traces ⟨pōns⟩ to Proto-Italic *pont- and Proto-Indo-European *pónt-h₁-s (“road”), the meaning having developed from road to bridge in Latin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL date it from Varro,^[3][4] for what belongs to a pontifex or to the college of pontifices.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In classical Latin it is used of what belongs to the pontifices or to the chief pontiff:^[2][5] Cicero writes of pontifical authority, Livy of the pontiffs' insignia, and Ovid of the honour of the chief pontiff.^[5][6] Suetonius calls lūdī pontificālēs the games the chief pontiff gave when he took office.^[5][6]

In Christian Latin it came to mean episcopal and then papal.^[7][8] The neuter plural pontificālia named a bishop's ceremonial vestments,^[7] and in Ecclesiastical Latin things belonging to pontifical ceremonies.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.^[3][4][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of pontifical authority.^[5][6][9]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy writes of the pontiffs' insignia.^[5][9]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius mentions the games given by the chief pontiff on taking office.^[5][6][9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Belonging to a pontifex or the college of pontifices, pontifical; of the chief pontiff.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) Episcopal.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin) Of the Pope, papal.^[7][8]
4. (neuter plural as noun, Medieval Latin) pontificālia: a bishop's ceremonial vestments, pontificals.^[7][8]

Related words

• pontificius
• pōns

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de