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I love the etymology for "nepotism"—"nepotism," which is, you know, giving jobs to people in your family who aren't qualified for those jobs because it goes back to the 1600s to Latin, and it has to do, believe it or not, with the Pope. So it's the Latin word for "nephew," and it's because popes would give their nephews jobs, and these weren't their actual nephews. They were their sons, which they were not supposed to have.

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I love the etymology for "nepotism"—"nepotism," which is, you know, giving jobs to people in your family who aren't qualified for those jobs because it goes back to the 1600s to Latin, and it has to do, believe it or not, with the Pope. So it's the Latin word for "nephew," and it's because popes would give their nephews jobs, and these weren't their actual nephews. They were their sons, which they were not supposed to have.

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Mignon Fogarty (grammargirl@zirk.us)'s status on Wednesday, 23-Apr-2025 05:14:09 JST Mignon Fogarty

Here's my best pope-related tidbit!
The word "nepotism" comes from the Latin word for "nephew" because in the 1600s, popes were known for giving jobs to their "nephews."

In conversation about 3 months ago from zirk.us permalink