What are the origins of the words Papa & papà

Do you know what the origins of the words Papa and Papà are? Today we’re going to find out as we celebrate Father’s Day which is observed on San Giuseppe (St. Joseph), on March 19. This year I am especially happy to celebrate it here in Italy with my father.

The words Papa and papà look the same, but Papa means Pope and papà means dad.

If we take a closer look we’ll see that the Papa lives in Rome, while my papà lives among his grapevines in Molise.

However, the word Papa takes us back to the Latin word Papa, which in turn comes from the Greek word Papas meaning father, padre in Italian, or papà, used in a more familiar and endearing way.

When there’s an accent mark on the vowel “a”, it is stressed like in the word papà, also in:

città
attività
libertà
volontà
bontà
felicità

And this brings us to the conclusion that every papà is a Papa… 😉


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