Etymograph

English

popedom

Popedom comes from Middle English popedome ‘papacy, position of a pope’, from Ecclesiastical Latin pāpa ‘a dad, daddy, father’, and ultimately from Ancient Greek πάππας.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπάππας1páppas‘father’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπάπας1‘bishop, patriarch’variant of πάππας
  3. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500pāpa1‘a dad, daddy, father’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150pāpa2‘pope’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150pāpdōm3‘the papacy’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500popedome3‘papacy, position of a pope’
  7. Englishtodaypopedom3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English papa
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English papdom
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English popedom

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπάππαςWiktionary, Old English papapáppas‘father’
  2. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEπάπαςWiktionary, Old English papa‘bishop, patriarch’variant of πάππας
  3. Ecclesiastical Latinc. 200–1500pāpaWiktionary, Old English papa‘a dad, daddy, father’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150pāpaWiktionary, Old English papdom‘pope’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150pāpdōmWiktionary, English popedom‘the papacy’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500popedomeWiktionary, English popedom‘papacy, position of a pope’
  7. EnglishtodaypopedomWiktionary, English popedom

Linked words

through Ecclesiastical Latin pāpa ‘a dad, daddy, father’

papa, papist, 10 more

Today it means

noun The jurisdiction of the pope.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “popedom”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Old English papa, Old English papdom. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek πάππας / popedom

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