"bridge," in anatomy and in various Latin expressions, from Latin pons "bridge, connecting gallery, walkway," earlier probably "way, passage," from PIE root *pent- "to go, tread" (see find (v.)). Especially pons asinorum "bridge of asses," nickname since early 16c. for the fifth proposition of the first book of Euclid, which students and slow wits find difficulty in "getting over": if two sides of a triangle are equal, the angles opposite these sides also are equal. "The original allusion seems to have been to the difficulty of getting asses to cross a bridge" [Century Dictionary]. The Latin word is the source of Italian ponte, French pont, Spanish puente.

c. 1600, "high priest," from French pontif (early 16c.), from Latin pontifex, title of a Roman high priest (see pontifex). Used for "bishop" in Church Latin, but not recorded in that sense in English until 1670s, specifically "the bishop of Rome," the pope. Pontifical, however, is used with reference to the pope from mid-15c.

early 15c., "of or pertaining to a high church official;" mid-15c., "of or pertaining to the Pope of Rome," from Old French pontifical and directly from Latin pontificalis "of or pertaining to the high priest," from pontifex "high priest," also "bridge-builder" (see pontifex). Hence pontificalia "trappings of a bishop." Earlier pontifical was used as a noun meaning "episcopal or papal edict" (late 14c.); "vestments of a high ecclesiastic" (c. 1400). Related: Pontific (1640s in the ancient Roman sense, by 1716 in the Christian sense).

early 15c., "tenure of a pope;" 1680s, "time during which a pontifical office is held by a particular incumbent," from Old French pontificat and directly from Latin pontificatus "office of a pontiff," from pontifex (see pontifex).

*dhē-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to set, put."

It might form all or part of: abdomen; abscond; add; affair; affect (v.1) "make a mental impression on;" affect (v.2) "make a pretense of;" affection; amplify; anathema; antithesis; apothecary; artifact; artifice; beatific; benefice; beneficence; beneficial; benefit; betray; bibliothec; bodega; boutique; certify; chafe; chauffeur; comfit; condiment; confection; confetti; counterfeit; deed; deem; deface; defeasance; defeat; defect; deficient; difficulty; dignify; discomfit; do (v.); doom; -dom; duma; edifice; edify; efface; effect; efficacious; efficient; epithet; facade; face; facet; facial; -facient; facile; facilitate; facsimile; fact; faction (n.1) "political party;" -faction; factitious; factitive; factor; factory; factotum; faculty; fashion; feasible; feat; feature; feckless; fetish; -fic; fordo; forfeit; -fy; gratify; hacienda; hypothecate; hypothesis; incondite; indeed; infect; justify; malefactor; malfeasance; manufacture; metathesis; misfeasance; modify; mollify; multifarious; notify; nullify; office; officinal; omnifarious; orifice; parenthesis; perfect; petrify; pluperfect; pontifex; prefect; prima facie; proficient; profit; prosthesis; prothesis; purdah; putrefy; qualify; rarefy; recondite; rectify; refectory; sacrifice; salmagundi; samadhi; satisfy; sconce; suffice; sufficient; surface; surfeit; synthesis; tay; ticking (n.); theco-; thematic; theme; thesis; tradition; traitor; verify.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Latin facere "to make, do; perform; bring about;" Lithuanian dėti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old English don "to do."