Etymology

pope

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Today it means: An honorary title of the Roman Catholic bishop of Rome as father and head of his church, a sovereign of the Vatican city state. Full definition →

Middle English pope ← Old English pāpa ← Vulgar Latin papa
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pope · noun, verb1

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromπάπας
  2. Medieval Greek · derived fromπαπᾶς
  3. Vulgar Latin · derived frompapa
  4. Old English · inherited frompāpa
  5. Middle English · inherited frompope
  6. English todaypope

From Middle English pope, popa, from Old English pāpa, from Vulgar Latin papa (title for priests and bishops, esp. and by 8th c. only the bishop of Rome), from early Medieval Greek παπᾶς (papâs, title for priests and bishops, especially by 3rd c. the bishop of Alexandria), from late Ancient Greek πάπας (pápas, title for priests and bishops, in the sense of spiritual father), from πάππας (páppas, “papa, daddy”).

pope · noun2

By analogy with bishop (“mulled and spiced wine”).

pope · noun3

  1. Medieval Greek · derived fromπαπᾶς
  2. Old Church Slavonic · derived fromпопъ
  3. Russian · borrowed fromпоп
  4. English todaypope

From Russian поп (pop), from Old Church Slavonic попъ (popŭ), from Medieval Greek παπᾶς (papâs) as above.

pope · noun4

Of Onomatopoeic origin.

Pope · proper noun, noun5

From pope; also used in Ireland/Scotland as a surname meaning "papa, father."

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.