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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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In all the news surrounding the death of Pope John Paul II, I learned a new word, papabile. According to Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papabile) Papabile (plural: Papabili) is an unofficial Italian term first coined by Vaticanologists and now used internationally in many languages to describe cardinals of whom it is thought likely or possible that they will be elected pope. A convenient English translation would be 'popeable'.
Among the papabile cardinals who were elected pope are Eugenio Cardinal Pacelli (Pius XII) and Giovanni Cardinal Montini (Paul VI). Being seen as papabile, however, is no guarantee of election, and is sometimes seen as a handicap. Giuseppe Cardinal Siri was widely expected to be elected pope in the 1958 conclave. Instead Angelo Cardinal Roncalli, an utterly unexpected choice, was elected and became Pope John XXIII. Similarly Giovanni Cardinal Benelli was widely expected to be elected pope in both the August and October 1978 conclaves. In fact he was defeated in both (narrowly the second time). In August, another candidate few saw as papabile, Albino Cardinal Luciani was elected and became Pope John Paul I. This has led to a wry saying among Vaticanologists, "He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal."
As the cardinals age, the "list" of papabili changes as well. For instance Carlo Cardinal Martini was thought to be papabile a few years ago, but now he has given up his see (Milan) upon reaching 75 years of age. As a result, few cite him as papabile today. A few years ago, Pope John Paul II joked about the papabili, "The man who will succeed me as pope hasn't yet been made a cardinal."
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addict
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addict
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English translation would be 'popeable'
As a lifelong Catholic who remembers the last two papal elections, I'm familiar with the term, but I've always thought of it as a noun, ie, a term that refers to that group of popes-in-waiting, not an adjective. Perhaps it's both. Will be interested to see how it's used during these days preceding the conclave.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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"Pontiff" is itself an interesting word, from the Latin for "bridge." Probably not a new one to the AWAD crowd but interesting anyway.
I do have a question: are the Catholic cardinals named after the bird cardinal, or are the birds named after the clergymen, or neither? My dictionary gives one definition of the word as "a deep red color." Maybe the color came first?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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According to wilipedia:
In the Roman Catholic Church, a cardinal is a dignitary of the second-highest rank, inferior only to the Pope. The term cardinal derives from the Latin cardo, or door-hinge.
TEd
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Was the color named for the red of their robes?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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i am pretty certain the color of a cardinal robe is crimsom..
and the bird is named for the color of the robes.. and there really isn't a cardinal red--but RED birds called cardinals.
crimson like scarlet, and a whole bunch of other red words are facinating--at least they are to me.. i once posted everyday on another red work (crimson, scarlet, cinabar, cerilian, etc.. ) and while the post were read.. no one seemed much interested.. it's an old thread (more than 3 closer to 4 years ago now.)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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www.m-w.com lists some interesting definitions for cardinal, including one which says that the bird is named after the ecclesiastical figure due to the color. My old dictionary at home lists as a definition the deep red color itself.
1 : a high ecclesiastical official of the Roman Catholic Church who ranks next below the pope and is appointed by him to assist him as a member of the college of cardinals
2 : CARDINAL NUMBER -- usually used in plural
3 : a woman's short hooded cloak orig. of scarlet cloth
4 [from its color, resembling that of the cardinal's robes] : a crested finch (Cardinalis cardinalis) of the eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada, the southwestern U.S., and Mexico to Belize which has a black face and heavy red bill in both sexes and is nearly completely red in the male
On a semi-related topic, I remain perplexed by the name of Stanford University's mascot, which is simply The Cardinal, in the singular, rather than the plural Cardinals of, say, the University of Louisville.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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perplexed by the name of Stanford University's mascot
From the Stanford web site:
"Cardinal has been the color of Stanford athletic teams since 1892 and was adopted in 1972 as the official name for Stanford sports."
Same as Cornell and (?)Nebraska(?) Big Red.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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That's interesting about Cornell, but I thought Nebraska were the Cornhuskers. Alabama of course is the Crimson Tide. What I meant about Stanford is that it is sort of linguistically awkward to be simply "the Cardinal."
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