pontificius

Forms

pontificius (feminine pontificia, neuter pontificium); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pontifex (“pontiff, member of the college of priests”) + -ius.^[2][1][3] De Vaan reports a consensus that pontifex means “bridge-maker”, from pōns (“bridge”), which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *pónt-h₁-s (“road”); the meaning developed from road to bridge.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek πάτος (pátos, “path”) and πόντος (póntos, “sea”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler record it first in Cato,^[5][3] and the TLL notes that it is found only in prose, from Cato, Hemina, Cicero and Varro on.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to a pontifex or to the college of pontiffs: Cicero speaks of the librī pontificiī, the pontifical books, and of iūs pontificium, pontifical law.^[2][6] Ammianus uses the masculine plural alone for those books.^[6] The neuter pontificium, used as a noun from Gellius on and mostly by Christian writers,^[5] means the power or right to do something in Gellius and Symmachus, and the dignity of a pontiff or bishop in Solinus and the Theodosian Code.^[6] Manuscripts often confuse the adjective with pontifex.^[5] In medieval British Latin it means episcopal or papal, as in a papal chaplain of 1254;^[7] iūs pontificium is canon law, religiō pontificia Roman Catholicism, and the masculine used as a noun means a papist.^[7]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – First recorded, in Cato.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the pontifical books and pontifical law.^[6][3]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the neuter pontificium for a power or right.^[6][5][3]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus has pontificiī for the pontifical books.^[6][3]
• 1254 – A papal chaplain, capellānus pontificius, in British Latin.^[7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a pontifex or the college of pontiffs, pontifical.^[2][6][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) Episcopal, papal;^[7] iūs pontificium, canon law.^[7]

Noun

1. (masculine plural) The pontifical books.^[6]
2. (neuter, pontificium) The power or right to do something; the dignity of a pontiff or bishop.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin, masculine) A papist.^[7]

Related words

• pontifex
• pontificālis
• pontificātus
• pōns

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b 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 e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press