pontiff

英 ['p?nt?f] 美['pɑnt?f]

近義詞priest

暢通詞匯

復(fù)數(shù):?pontiffs;

pontiff 教皇，宗座

來自拉丁語pontifex,主祭司，教皇，來自pons,橋，-fex,做，制造，詞源同do,fact.即修橋的人，引申詞義連接凡人和神的人，后用做教皇尊稱。

pontiff: pontiff: [17] In ancient Rome, members of the highest college of priests were known by the epithet pontifex. This looks as though it should mean ‘bridgemaker’ (as if it were formed from Latin pōns ‘bridge’ – source of English pontoon – with the suffix -fex, from facere ‘make’), but no one has ever been able to make any sense of this, and it is generally assumed that it originated as a loan-word, perhaps from Etruscan, and was subsequently adapted by folk etymology to pontifex.

It was adopted into Christian usage in the sense ‘bishop’. The pope was the ‘sovereign pontifex’, and in due course pontifex came to designate the ‘pope’ himself. The word passed into French as pontife, from which English gets pontiff.
=> punt
pontiff (n.): c. 1600, "high priest," from French pontif (early 16c.), from Latin pontifex, title of a Roman high priest (see pontifex). Used for "bishop" in Church Latin, but not recorded in that sense in English until 1670s, specifically "the bishop of Rome," the pope. Pontifical, however, is used with this sense from mid-15c.

3. The 82 - year - old pontiff made the comments in his weekly appearance in St.: 這位82高齡的教皇是在出席每周一次的圣彼得廣場見面會時說這番話的.

4. The Pontiff also urged dialogue and brotherhood between faiths.: 他同時呼吁加快不同信仰間的對話和兄弟情誼.

5. The pontiff's critics grumbled that he had not really apologised.: 教皇的批評者們指出,教皇并沒有真正道歉.