Pontific

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Of or relating to a pope or the office and authority of the papacy
2. Concerning the pope or papal functions and responsibilities
3. Pertaining to the pope or the papal church and its leadership

Etymology: Pontific is an adjective that means of or relating to a bishop or the pope, and it is built from Latin "pōns," meaning bridge, plus the suffix "-ific." The bridge connection is the surprise here: the Latin "pontifex," the word from which "pontifical" and "pontiff" descend, was originally a term for a bridge-builder or maker of bridges, probably linked to the sacred duties of early Roman priests, who had responsibility for the Tiber bridge. Pontific itself is formed on the stem of "pōns" with "-ific," a suffix that appears in words like "terrific" and "specific," but it is used in the sense of the Latin "pontificius," which means pontifical. In other words, English took the bridge stem and gave it the same meaning as the Latin adjective for the priesthood, rather than borrowing an existing word.