[Peace-discuss] AWARE pontificates?

[C. G. Estabrook]

The classic Latin dictionary, Lewis & Short, pontificates apodictically: without 
any of the OED's nervous invocation of folk-etymology, it declares  that 
pontifex is "doubtless from pons-facio [= bridge/make]; but the original meaning 
is obscure."

It also quotes to dismiss a first century BCE source (M. Terentius Varro, De 
Lingua Latina) that derives the word from "posse" (to be able) and "facere" (to 
make).

Pontifex (source of English "pontificate") meant a (pagan) priest in classical 
times.  Julius Caesar, in his audacity of hope, became a pontifex on his way to 
bigger if not better things.

When the bible was translated into Latin (4th century CE), pontifex was used for 
the high priest in Judaism (Lev. 21:10) and for Caiaphas (Jn. 18:24) as well as 
for bishops.

So "pontificate" when it appears in English as a verb means "to act like a 
priest, esp. a bishop or pope."  But the earliest example the OED has of its 
meaning "to speak in a dogmatic or pompous manner" is late 19th century, by 
which time "pontiff" in English was effectively restricted to the bishop of Rome.

The current common meaning of "pontificate" seems therefore to have its roots in 
a bit of 19th century British anti-papalism...  --CGE

_____________
P.S. -- For a bit of bedside reading that plays with those attitudes, see 
Frederick Rolfe's mad 1904 novel "Hadrian the Seventh." (I just checked Amazon, 
and to my surprise it's in print.)



Ricky Baldwin wrote:
> As the OED suggests (i.e. "punningly") a word's etymology (or "supposed 
> etymology") is not the same as its definition.  Meanings also change over
> time.  Otherwise phrases like "rabbits and other deer" would still make sense
> down at the gas station.
> 
> Ricky
> 
> "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn
> 
> --- On *Thu, 9/3/09, C. G. Estabrook /<galliher at illinois.edu>/* wrote:
> 
> 
> From: C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss]
> AWARE To: "John W." <jbw292002 at gmail.com> Cc:
> peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net Date: Thursday, September 3, 2009, 9:01 AM
> 
> 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.
>>