[Peace-discuss] AWARE

[John W.]

I think there's a simpler explanation for what happened etymologically.  The
pontifex - the Roman high priest - was SUPPOSED to be a bridge-builder
between God and man.  But human beings being the nasty, brutish,
self-centered creatures that they are, the pontifex got all full of himself,
enthralled by his own power and the power of his own words, narcissistic.
As a consequence, he became a bloviator and a tyrant.  And that's the
meaning that we're left with today.

John


On Thu, Sep 3, 2009 at 9:01 AM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>wrote:

Here's the OED pontificating, as it were--
>
> [< classical Latin pontific-, pontifex Roman high priest, in post-classical
> Latin also pope (4th cent.), bishop (5th cent.; frequently from 7th cent. in
> British sources), archbishop (frequently from 8th cent. in British sources),
> apparently (following ancient etymologists) < ponti-, alternative stem of
> pons bridge (see PONS n.) + -fic-, -fex, combining form of facere to do,
> make (see FACT n.), though this may represent merely a folk etymology ... In
> sense 4 chiefly used punningly or allusively with reference to the supposed
> etymology.]
>        [...]
>    4. A bridge-maker. Also fig.
> 1686 J. F. G. CARERI Let. 6 Apr. in Coll. Voy. & Trav. (1732) 88/1 Jucundus
> on the Seyne two bridges laid, For which he well may Pontifex be said.
> Pontifex has here a double meaning, as signifying a bridge-maker; whereas
> the true acceptation of it is a bishop. 1834 T. CARLYLE Sartor Resartus I.
> xi. 28/2 Never perhaps since our first Bridge-builders, Sin and Death, built
> that stupendous Arch from Hell-gate to the Earth, did any Pontifex, or
> Pontiff, undertake such a task. 1877 Outl. Hist. Relig. 237 No special deity
> claimed the services of the Pontifices, the bridge- or road-makers. 1927
> Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Instit. 57 248 Moses was a Pontifex indeed. His
> device, whatever it may have been, perhaps the choice of an interval between
> the floods, became a miracle. 1999 Hinduism Today (Nexis) 30 Apr. 25 He was
> a Pontifex..a man throwing bridges over different rivers. Vedic heritage and
> Greek Pagan thought, Hindu worldview and Germanic tradition.
>
> John W. wrote:
>
>> ... Incidentally, in my own dictionary perusings and musings - to say
>> nothing of my life experience - I'm not seeing anything about a person who
>> pontificates as being a "bridge builder":
>>
>> *pon·tif·i·cate
>> *
>>  (pŏn-tĭf'ĭ-kĭt, -kāt')   n.  The office or term of office of a pontiff.
>> intr.v.   (-kāt') *pon·tif·i·cat·ed*, *pon·tif·i·cat·ing*,
>> *pon·tif·i·cates*
>>
>>   1. To express opinions or judgments in a dogmatic way.
>>   2. To administer the office of a pontiff.
>>
>>
>> [Latin pontificātus, from pontifex, pontific-, /pontifex/; see *
>> pontifex*. V., from Medieval Latin pontificāre, pontificāt-, /to act as an
>> ecclesiastic/, from Latin pontifex.]
>> *pon·tif'i·ca'tion*/ n./, *pon·tif'i·ca'tor*/ n.
>>
>> /
>>
>> The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
>> Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
>> Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
>>
>>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/archive/peace-discuss/attachments/20090903/1c035354/attachment-0001.html