Papal

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈpeɪpəl/

Definitions

1. Of or relating to the pope or the office and authority of the pope in the Roman Catholic Church
2. Connected to the supreme leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the religious governance associated with that position
3. Relating to the pope, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and his spiritual and administrative role

Etymology: "Papal" is a plain derivative of "pope," built on the Late Latin "papa," a word for father that the Church later reserved for its bishop of Rome. The Latin "papa" is itself a child-talk word, the kind of syllable that babies everywhere produce, and it spread across Christian Europe as a title of affection and respect for senior clergy long before it narrowed to one office. The adjective arrived in English from Middle English, which borrowed it from Old French, which in turn drew on the Medieval Latin "pāpālis," meaning "of the pope." That Medieval Latin form was built directly from "papa" with the ordinary adjective ending "-alis," the same ending that gives English words like "royal" and "national." So "papal" is essentially "pope" with a suffix that means "belonging to," and its meaning has stayed tightly fixed on the office itself.

Synonyms: pontifical, clerical