Editing Pontifex maximus (section)

==Etymology==
{{Priesthoods of ancient Rome}}
The etymology of "pontifex" is uncertain, but the word has been used since Roman times. The word appears to consist of the Latin word for "bridge" and the suffix for "maker"  (''pons'' + ''facere'')". However, there is a possibility that this definition is a [[folk etymology]] for an [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] term,<ref name="livius">{{cite journal|last=Lendering|first=Jona|author-link=Jona Lendering|title=Pontifex Maximus|url=https://www.livius.org/pn-po/pontifex/maximus.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112143929/https://www.livius.org/pn-po/pontifex/maximus.html|archive-date=January 12, 2012|access-date=August 21, 2011|via=[[Livius.org]]}}</ref> since Roman religion was heavily influenced by Etruscan religion, and little is known about the [[Etruscan language]], which is a [[Indo-European languages|non-Indo-European]] and poorly attested language.

According to the common interpretation whereby the term ''pontifex'' means "bridge-builder", this could have been originally meant in a literal sense: the position of bridge-builder was indeed an important one in Rome, where the major bridges were over the [[Tiber]], the sacred river (and a deity): only prestigious authorities with sacral functions could be allowed to "disturb" it with mechanical additions. However, it was always understood in its symbolic sense as well: the pontifices were the ones who smoothed the "bridge" between gods and men.<ref name="Van Haeperen">{{cite journal |last=Van Haeperen |first=Françoise |title=Des pontifes païens aux pontifes chrétiens |journal=Revue belge de Philologie et d'Histoire |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_2003_num_81_1_4718 |year=2003 |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=137–159 |doi=10.3406/rbph.2003.4718 |access-date=2020-03-03 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The interpretation of the word ''pontifex'' as "bridge-builder" was that of [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro]]. [[Plutarch]] pointed out that the term existed before there were any bridges in Rome and derived the word from [[Old Latin]] ''pontis'' {{sic}} meaning a powerful or absolute master, while others derived it from ''potis facere'' in the sense of "able to sacrifice".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hooke|first=Nathaniel|url=https://archive.org/details/romanhistoryfro00hookgoog/page/n90|title=The Roman History, from the Building of Rome to the Ruin of the Commonwealth |volume=5|date=1830|place=London| publisher= Thomas Davison|page=81}}</ref> The last derivation is mentioned also by Varro, who rejected it,<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Beard, Mary |editor2=North, John |editor3=Price, Simon |year=1998 |title=Religions of Rome |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-52145646-3 |volume=2 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQd82l39KX4C&pg=PA195}}</ref> but it was the view of ''pontifex maximus'' [[Quintus Mucius Scaevola Pontifex|Quintus Scaevola]].<ref name=Lanciani>{{cite book |first=Rodolfo |last=Lanciani |year=2005 |title=New Tales of Ancient Rome |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |edition=reprint |isbn=978-1-41790821-9 |page=54 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hcQETIDrjBwC&pg=PA54}}</ref> Others have held that the word was originally ''pompifex'' (leader of public processions).<ref name=Lanciani/> The word ''pons'' originally meant "way" and ''pontifex'' would thus mean "maker of roads and bridges."<ref name=Lanciani/>

Another opinion is that the word is a corruption of a similar-sounding but etymologically unrelated [[Etruscan language|Etruscan]] word.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pontifex (n.)|author= Douglas Harper | date= 2020|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/pontifex|access-date=2023-02-17|website=Online Etymology Dictionary|language=en}}</ref> Yet another hypothesis<ref>First proposed by F. Ribezzo in "Pontifices 'quinionalis sacrificii effectores'", ''Rivista Indo-Greco-Italica di Filologia-Lingua-Antichità'' '''15''' 1931 p. 56.</ref> considers the word as a loan from the [[Sabine language]], in which it would mean a member of a college of five, from [[Osco-Umbrian]] ''ponte'', five.<ref>Cf. Greek πέντε</ref> This explanation takes into account that the college was established by [[Sabines|Sabine]] king [[Numa Pompilius]] and the institution is Italic: the expressions ''pontis'' and ''pomperias'' found in the [[Iguvine Tablets]] may denote a group or division of five or by five. The pontifex would thence be a member of a sacrificial college known as ''pomperia'' (Latin ''quinio'').<ref>For a review of the proposed hypotheses cfr. J. P. Hallet "Over Troubled Waters: The Meaning of the Title Pontifex" in ''Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association'' '''101''' 1970 p. 219 ff.</ref>

The Roman title ''pontifex maximus'' was rendered in Greek inscriptions and literature of the time as {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεύς|lit=Archpriest|translit=archiereús}}<ref>[[Polybius]] 23.1.2 and 32.22.5; ''Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum'' 3.43, 3.428 und 3.458</ref> or by a more literal translation and order of words as {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεὺς μέγιστος|lit=greatest archpriest|translit=archireús mégistos}}.<ref>''Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum'' 2.2696 and 3.346; [[Plutarch]] ''Numa'' 9.4</ref> The term {{Langx|grc-x-koine|ἀρχιερεύς|label=none}} is used in the Greek [[Septuagint]] text of the [[Old Testament]] and in the [[New Testament]] to refer to the [[High Priest of Israel]], including in [[2 Maccabees]] ({{Bibleverse|2 Maccabees|4:7|LXX}}).

The word ''pontifex'', Latin for "[[pontiff]]," was used in ancient Rome to designate a member of the [[College of Pontiffs]]. In the Latin [[Vulgate]] translation of the [[New Testament]], it is sometimes used to designate the Jewish high priest, as in the ''[[Gospel of John]]'' and ''[[Epistle to the Hebrews]]'' ({{bibleverse|John|11:49|Vulgate}}; {{bibleverse|Hebrews|5:1|Vulgate}}). From perhaps as early as the 3rd century, it has been used to denote a Christian bishop. In the [[Vulgate]], the term {{lang|la|summus pontifex}} was originally applied to the [[High Priest of Israel]], as in the ''[[Book of Judith]]'' ({{bibleverse|Judith|15:19|Vulgate}}), whose place, each in his own [[diocese]], the Christian bishops were regarded as holding, based on an interpretation of the ''[[First Epistle of Clement]]'' (I Clement 40).<ref name=":0">{{cite CE1913|last=Joyce|first=George Hayward|wstitle=Pope#(1) Titles|display=Pope § Titles|volume=12}}</ref>