The “key” to the etymology of “conclave”

On May 7, just over two weeks after the death of Pope Francis, eligible cardinals will convene to elect the next head of the Roman Catholic Church. This assembly is known as the conclave—a special term that’s been all the more top of mind due to the recent popular film of the same name. In conclave, cardinal electors are sequestered and swear an oath of secrecy to preclude outside interference. 

When it comes to papal conclaves, secrecy and seclusion are not just the name of the game—they are even key to the very etymology of the word conclave. And put a pin in words like preclude and seclusion, as they, too, are connected.

The origin of the word conclave

Conclave derives from the Latin conclāve, meaning “a room” or other such chamber that, specifically, can be locked. Conclāve is composed of con-, a form of cum meaning “with,” and clāvis, meaning “key.” The literal idea is that a conclave, well, is a room that can be locked up with a key, therefore implying privacy or seclusion.

Conclave entered English via French, possibly Italian. It’s evidenced by at least the 1390s in John Gower’s poem Confessio Amantis for the place where cardinals privately meet to elect the Pope. This sense of conclave has since shifted to emphasize the very assembly of those cardinals.

Around 1400, conclave is recorded to refer to any private room; by the 1560s, any private or secret meeting. We certainly do and can use conclave in this more general way today, but there’s no doubt most of us likely encounter the word in its rarer but more noteworthy contexts concerning popes.

The origin of the papal conclave

The papal electoral process has been millennia in the making in the Roman Catholic Church, but the basis of the conclave dates back to the 13th century. Following the death of Pope Clement IV in 1268, stubborn political divisions among cardinal electors prolonged the selection of a new pope for nearly three years.

Eventually, officials locked the cardinals in a room until they chose a new pope. To hasten their decision, as the story goes, they even removed the roof of their meeting place and restricted them to a diet of only bread and water. The result was Pope Gregory X, who went on to institute papal conclaves in 1274.

Rules and procedures around the practice changed in the subsequent centuries, including into our own time.

Why is the pope called the pope? How old is that title? Very old.

Conclaves in enclaves

If you know the Latin clāvis, you can unlock the etymologies of a number of other words in English:

Clavicle

From Latin clavicula, “small key.” The shape of the collarbone was apparently likened to a key—or its skeletal function to a bolt.

Clavichord

Combines the Latin clāvis and chorda, “string.” This was a small, quieter stringed keyboard instrument popular from about the 1300–1800s.

Clavier

Based on the Latin for “key-bearer.” The keyboard of a musical instrument; a German name for any stringed keyboard instrument, especially the clavichord but also the harpsichord and piano.

Now obsolete, claviger is an etymologically similar occupational term for a “key-keeper”—like a custodian or warden.

Clef

The French descendant of clāvis. The symbol on a musical staff indicating the pitch of the notes. The symbols were originally letters, corresponding to the pitch of the note on the line and therefore serving as the key to those on the other lines and spaces. 

Fun fact: The clef symbols today are stylized forms of their original anchoring G and F letter-named pitches, G being treble (𝄞) and F bass (𝄢). The less common alto and tenor clef symbol (𝄡) is based on C. 

Enclave

Based on French and Latin verbs for “to enclose, comprise; shut in, lock up.” A distinct area contained within another. Vatican City—home to the Sistine Chapel where the conclave is currently held—is a Roman enclave.

Conclaves are etymologically “secluded,” too

Speaking of enclose, the word ultimately derives from the Latin claudere, “to close, shut, lock, confine, restrict, finish.” 

Historical linguists relate this verb to clāvis along with clāvus, “nail,” and clāva, “club,” via a possible Proto-Indo-European root for “hook, peg”—forming a family of early fasteners. 

Clāvus, “nail,” is the source of the spice clove (due to its shape) and cloy, originally from a Latin verb meaning “to drive a nail into” (now there’s an image for too much sugar or sentiment). Clāva, “club,” yields the more obscure adjectives clavate and claviform, scientific terms for “club-shaped.”

As for claudere, its derivatives run free in English:

• clause
• cloister
• close (yep, the entire suite of adjective, adverb, and verb)
• closet
• closure
• conclude
• exclude
• foreclose
• include
• occlude
• preclude
• recluse
• seclude

With a key, for the keys

Cum clave, closed and secluded “with a key,” in conclave, the cardinals will elect a pope whose very office is itself symbolized by keys—the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which in Christian scripture Jesus gives to St. Peter, entrusting him with the authority over and care of his church. In Catholic tradition, St. Peter was the first pope, and so keys have come to represent St. Peter and the papacy, notably featured on the flag of Vatican City,🇻🇦.

For more papal etymologies, find out what pontiff has to do with “bridges” and why the pope’s signature piece of headwear is called a miter.