nuncio
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Spanish nuncio, from Latin nūntius (“envoy”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈnʌnʃiˌoʊ/, /-siˌoʊ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
[edit]nuncio (plural nuncios)
- (Roman Catholicism) The ecclesiastic title of a permanent diplomatic representative of the Roman Catholic Church to a sovereign state or international organization, who is accorded a rank equivalent to an accredited ambassador, and may also be given additional privileges including recognition as Dean in a country's diplomatic corps.
- Synonym: nuntius
- a. 1868, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, A Popular History of Ireland […] [1]:
- He was anxious to make an immediate and lasting peace with Spain; refused to receive a special embassy from the Hollanders; his ambassador at Paris was known to be on terms of intimacy with the Pope's Nuncio; […] .
- 1896, Ernest A. Vizetelly, transl., Rome (The Three Cities)[2], translation of Rome by Émile Zola:
- His ecclesiastical appointments showed how rapidly he had made his way, how supple was his mind: first of all secretary to the nunciature at Lisbon; then created titular Bishop of Thebes, and entrusted with a delicate mission in Brazil; on his return appointed nuncio first at Brussels and next at Vienna; […] .
- 2015 October 2, Emma Green, quoting Michael Sean Winters, “The Vatican Is Waging a PR War Over Kim Davis and the Pope”, in The Atlantic[3]:
- Seeing as the meeting happened at the nunciature in Washington, it could only have happened with the approval and participation of the nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano.
- (by extension) One who bears a message; a messenger.
- 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], →OCLC, page 18:
- [O]thers, held very good men, are at a dead ſtand, not knovving vvhat to doe or ſay; and are therefore called Seekers, looking for nevv Nuntio’s from Chriſt, to aſſoil theſe benighted queſtions, and to give nevv Orders for nevv Churches.
- 1672, Thomas Browne, A Letter to a Friend, § 2:
- Altho at this distance you had no early Account or Particular of his Death; yet your Affection may cease to wonder that you had not some secret Sense or Intimation thereof by Dreams, thoughtful Whisperings, Mercurisms, Airy Nuncio’s, or sympathetical Insinuations, which many seem to have had at the Death of their dearest Friends.
- (historical) Any member of any Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Galicia (of the Austrian Partition), Duchy of Warsaw, Congress Poland, or Grand Duchy of Posen.
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]- announce
- internuncio
- nunciature
- Pro-nuncio (defunct since 1991)
Translations
[edit]title used for Catholic clerics
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one who bears a message — see messenger
member of a Sejm of a Polish realm
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References
[edit]- A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (1st ed.), volume VI (L–N), part ii (M–N, 1908), § 2 (N, ed. William Alexander Craigie), page 263 s.v. “Nuncio”
Further reading
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈnuːŋ.ki.oː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈnun̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.o]
Noun
[edit]nūnciō m
References
[edit]- “nuncio”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈnunθjo/ [ˈnũn̟.θjo] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
- IPA(key): /ˈnunsjo/ [ˈnũn.sjo] (Latin America, Philippines)
- Rhymes: -unθjo (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
- Rhymes: -unsjo (Latin America, Philippines)
- Syllabification: nun‧cio
Noun
[edit]nuncio m (plural nuncios)
- messenger
- 1915, Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Mitos y Supersticiones Recogidos de la Tradición Oral Chilena, page 252:
- El grillo blanco es nuncio de felicidad.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (Catholicism) nuncio
Further reading
[edit]- “nuncio”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
Categories:
- English terms borrowed from Spanish
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- en:Roman Catholicism
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- en:Religious occupations
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- Rhymes:Spanish/unθjo
- Rhymes:Spanish/unθjo/2 syllables
- Rhymes:Spanish/unsjo
- Rhymes:Spanish/unsjo/2 syllables
- Spanish lemmas
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- es:Catholicism
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