The papables appear in the dictionary

So much mystery surrounding who the future Holy Father will be, and it turns out that papal candidates are listed in the dictionary. The DIEC (Spanish Association of Cardinals) translates this as: "One who is considered worthy of being elected Pope." Today, we would simply say "he sounds like a pope," but the dictionary's definitions shy away from colloquialism. In the case of the RAE (Royal Academy of Spanish Language) dictionary, they even dare to use a metaphor: "Said by a cardinal: Considered worthy of the tiara."

The tiara in this definition refers to the papal crown that was worn until Paul VI, the pontiff who died in 1981. It is therefore a double metaphor, first because it is no longer used and is therefore an anachronistic symbol, and second because it is a synecdoche, taking the part (the symbol of the triple crown on the tiara) for the whole (the person who wore it, who could only be the Holy Father).

The papal tiara featured three superimposed crowns, symbolizing his authority as pope, bishop, and king. Give him a greyhound... Earthly king, bishop of Rome, and pope of the Catholic world. It is through the second and third authority that it is said that his blessing is urbi et orbi, that is, to Rome as bishop of the city and to the world as holy father.

The papal tiara featured three crowns, symbolizing authority as pope, bishop, and king.

But back to Papable. As linguistic institutions recognize today, journalism, in all its forms, is one of the main factors responsible for the evolution of a language. If previously it was writers who set the tone and provided examples for dictionaries, with the turn of the century, references have grown exponentially compared to texts from the media, because journalists like to experiment in order to inform.

The first word coined by derivation to refer to a person "who was considered for office" was "ministrable." This is the mother of all words, the one that has given rise, by imitation, to derivatives such as "presidential candidate," "mayoral candidate," and, in this case, " papatable."

The suffix -ble is used to designate that something is possible. For example, in "reprorrogable" or "distinctive" it means that something can be extended or distinguished. In the case of "ministrable" it is used in reference to a person who is considered a minister, who has a chance because someone has considered their name for the position, so they may end up being appointed as such. This is the same as "papatable."

However, in the case of "presidential" and "mayoral" (alcaldable), the derivative undergoes a transformation: it no longer designates someone nominated for the position, but rather the leader of each party's list running in presidential or municipal elections. This suffix -ble will surely find new lexemes to attach to them.