pontificatus

Forms

pontificātus m (genitive pontificātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pontifex (“pontiff”) + -ātus.^[2][3][1] pontifex is a compound of pōns (“bridge”) and faciō (“to make”); de Vaan reports a consensus that it meant “bridge-maker”, in the sense of one who mediates between gods and men.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it only in prose, from Cicero on;^[3][5] in his speech on the soothsayers' responses he says that solemn rites were held to depend on the pontificate.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the office or dignity of a pontifex,^[2][6] and pontificatus maximus that of the chief pontiff, as in Velleius and Suetonius, who has Caesar stand for it.^[2][3] Velleius and Tacitus treat it as an honour conferred on young men and old.^[3] The grammarian Probus recognises only the singular.^[3] Christian writers use it from Clement on for the office of a bishop,^[3] and in Medieval Latin it is the episcopal or papal dignity, and a bishopric.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the Roman pontificate.^[3][5]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius, of the office of chief pontiff.^[3][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of Caesar's candidacy for the chief pontificate.^[3][2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The office or dignity of a pontifex, the pontificate;^[2][6][1] pontificātus maximus, the office of chief pontiff.^[2][6][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) The dignity of a bishop; the papal dignity; a bishopric.^[7][8]

Related words

• pontifex
• pontificālis
• pontificius

References

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