Etymology

nolo episcopari

Today it means: Expressing a facetiously modest refusal of something which is actually desired. Full definition →

Latin nolo episcōpārī
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromnolo episcōpārī“I do not want to be bishop”
  2. English todaynolo episcopari

From Latin nolo episcōpārī (“I do not want to be bishop”). It was formerly maintained that those nominated for the post of bishop politely declined the offer twice with these words.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.