The corpus record — Latin

pontifex

pontifex · m

a Roman high-priest

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Ab Urbe Condita, books 8-10 - 19s 2 · 99.5/10k
Ab Urbe Condita, books 8-10 - 18s 1 · 60.24/10k
De Domo Sua Ad Pontifices 74 · 48.87/10k
De haruspicum responso in P. Clodium in Senatu Habita 16 · 21.26/10k
Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 41-42 - 41 9 · 11.84/10k
Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40 - 40 14 · 9.49/10k
Opilius Macrinus 2 · 8.03/10k
Commemoratio professorum Burdigalensium 2 · 7.61/10k
Ausonii Burdigalensis Vasatis Gratiarum Actio Ad Grati Angratianum Imperatorem Pro Consulatu 3 · 7.24/10k
Divus Aurelianus 5 · 6.4/10k
Ab Urbe Condita, books 26-27 - 27 11 · 6.33/10k
De Senectute 5 · 6.05/10k

Densest 12 of 106 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. pontĭfex — Lewis & Short

pontĭfex (pontŭ-), fĭcisdoubtless from pons-facio; but the original meaning is obscure, m.,

I a Roman high-priest, a pontiff, pontifex (cf.: antistes, sacerdos): pontifices, ut Q. Scaevola pontifex maximus dicebat, a posse et facere, Varr. L. L. 5, § 83 Müll.; Cic. Leg. 2, 8, 20, on the laws of the Twelve Tables; id. de Or. 3, 19, 73; id. Rep. 2, 14, 26; Liv. 1, 20; Ov. F. 6, 454; Hor. C. 3, 30, 9; 2, 14, 28; 3, 23, 12; id. Ep. 2, 1, 26; Juv. 6, 604. Their chief or president was called Pontifex Maximus, Cic. Agr. 2, 7, 18; id. de Or. 2, 12, 51; Liv. 3, 54; 25, 5 et saep.: MAIOR VESTAE, Inscr. (a. 353 p. Chr. n.) Orell. 3184: pontifices minores, a lower class of pontiffs, minor or sub- pontiffs: scribae pontificis, quos nunc minores pontifices appellant, Liv. 22, 57, 3; Cic. Har. Resp. 6, 12; Verr. Fl. Fast. ap. Inscr. Orell. 2, p. 408; Inscr. Cenot. Pisan. ap. Orell. 643: pontifices seu minores seu maximi, Lact. 5, 19, 12.—

II Transf.

A The Jewish high-priest: Pontifex, id est, sacerdos maximus, Vulg. Lev. 21, 10: Caiapham pontificem, id. Johan. 18, 24.—Hence,

B In the Christian period, a bishop, Sid. Carm. 16, 6.

2. pontifex — Walde–Hofmann

pontifex (-iu-, Leumann-Stolz 85), -fieis m. Oberpriester^ (seit Plaut., vgl. Fest. ds, p. 185; pontificius, -a, -um „oberpriesterlich“ seit Cato [-um n. „Oberpriesteramt“ seit Arnob.), pontifieälis, -e, seit Varro u, Cic., pontificätus, -às „Oberpriesteramt* seit Cic): nach Täubler Sb. Heidelberg 1931/2, 2. Abh. 67 f£, Herbig KZ. 47, 211 ff. in Übereinstimmung mit den Alten (vgl Varro L 1. 5,83) als „Brückenmacher* … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. pontifex, p. 1243]

In the wild

pontifex Livy, Ab urbe condita 2.22.10.1
pontificis Seneca the Elder, Controversiae 1.2.10
pontifex Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia 8.13.2
pontifices Livy, Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 35-38 - 37 p3
pontifices Livy, Ab urbe condita libri, erklärt von M. Weissenborn, books 39-40 - 39 p5
pontifices Cicero, De haruspicum responso in P. Clodium in Senatu Habita 12

6 of 614 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. pontifex (scan p. 545; entry #8938).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. pontifex (scan p. 1243; entry #2067). Root candidates: *pomto-, *tuonti-.

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.