papa Italian · revision 37795

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=end of the 12th century, Ritmo laurenziano|origins=grc πάππας}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpa.pa/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''papa''' ''m'' (plural papi)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-lat|papa|t=father; bishop; pope]], a learned word of the Church.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) The Latin word was taken from [[grc|πάπας|tr=pápas|t=father]], a title of priests and bishops, itself from [[m|grc|πάππας|tr=páppas|t=papa, daddy]], a word of children's speech.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ As a title, the word was given from the 3rd century to bishops in general, as a sign of affectionate veneration, often with a possessive, and in 4th-century Egypt even to priests.^(DELI 1999) It is first applied to the bishop of Rome in Tertullian's treatise on modesty and, directly, in an inscription of the deacon Severus (296–304) in the catacomb of San Callisto.^(DELI 1999) From the end of the 4th century it became a specific title of the Roman bishop, although in the 5th century the name of the City was still added; in the 6th it entered the formulary of the chancery of Constantinople, and the official lives of the popes use it in place of the word for bishop from the life of Agapetus I (535–536).^(DELI 1999) Nocentini and Prati date its exclusive use for the bishop of Rome to the 11th century, and Tommaseo records that Gregory VII ordered this at a council in Rome in 1073.^(Nocentini 2010)^(Prati 1951|737)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ The same Latin word gave [[fr|pape]] and [[es|papa]]; it passed into English as [[m|en|pope]], while [[de|Papst]] came through Old French.^(Nocentini 2010) The Greek word survives in the Eastern Church as the title of a priest, and in Italian as [[papasso]] and [[pope]].^(DEI|2754)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is in the Ritmo laurenziano, a Tuscan poem of the end of the 12th century, which names the pope as the patron of a cleric.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI|12, 509) GRADIT dates the word to the second half of the 12th century.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian the plural could be invariable: ''li papa'' is recorded at Pisa in the 14th century, and some dialects, Romanesco among them, still use it.^(DEI|2754) GDLI notes that ''papa'' is the word of everyday, pastoral and political language, while official Church and legal usage prefers ''Romano Pontefice'' or ''Sommo Pontefice''.^(GDLI|12, 509)

+

+ The tarot card showing a pope is recorded in 1561 in Alessandro Citolini, with ''papessa'' for the female figure of the same pack;^(DELI 1999) Alessandro Piccolomini had already used ''papessa'' in 1545 for a know-all woman.^(DELI 1999) The adjective ''papale'' and the noun ''papato'' are of the 13th century;^(DELI 1999) ''papabile'', of a cardinal who may be elected pope, is in Annibal Caro before 1566, and of any candidate likely to win from 1922.^(DELI 1999) ''Papalino'' meant a supporter of the pope's temporal power in Massimo d'Azeglio (1833) and a soldier of the pope in 1680, and ''papalina'', a skullcap once worn by old men at home, is recorded in 1768.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ Several proverbial phrases are built on the word: ''a ogni morte di papa'' “very rarely”, ''andare a Roma e non vedere il papa'' “to miss the most important thing”, ''vivere come un papa'' “to live in comfort” and ''morto un papa se ne fa un altro'' “nobody is irreplaceable”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011) ''Papa nero'' is a popular name of the general of the Jesuits, and in journalism the boss of a criminal organization.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) Turkish borrowed the Italian word as ''papa''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano uses ''papa''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 13th century – ''Papale'' and ''papato'' are recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – The invariable plural ''li papa'' is recorded at Pisa.^(DEI|2754)

+ * 1561 – Alessandro Citolini names the tarot card ''papa''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1566 – Annibal Caro uses ''papabile''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1768 – ''Papalina'' is recorded for a skullcap.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1833 – Massimo d'Azeglio uses ''papalino'' for a supporter of the pope's temporal power.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1922 – ''Papabile'' is recorded for any candidate likely to be elected.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|pope]], the bishop of Rome and head of the Catholic Church; before a name it takes no article: ''Il papa ha salutato i pellegrini dalla finestra.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative, jocular)'' The leading [[m|en|authority]] in a group, party or movement.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # In the Eastern Church, and in the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, a title of a [[m|en|priest]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(card games)'' The Pope, one of the major arcana of the [[m|en|tarot]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(zoology)'' The [[m|en|king vulture]], also called ''avvoltoio papa''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[papale]]

+ * [[papato]]

+ * [[papabile]]

+ * [[papalino]]

+ * [[papalina]]

+ * [[papessa]]

+ * [[papista]]

+ * [[papismo]]

+ * [[antipapa]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[papasso]]

+ * [[pope]]

+ * [[papà]]

+ * [[la|papa]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A popular explanation reads the word as an acronym of Latin phrases such as ''Petri apostoli potestatem accipiens'' “receiving the power of the apostle Peter”; this is a folk etymology.^(Wiktionary) GDLI records a separate, obsolete ''papa'' (plural ''pape'') “potato”, from the name used by the Indians of Peru, in 16th-century accounts of the Americas.^(GDLI|12, 509)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}