compassion

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəmˈpæʃ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English compassioun, borrowed from Old French compassion (“sympathy, pity”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin compassiō (“fellow feeling”),^[2][5][6] a loan translation of Ancient Greek συμπάθεια (sumpátheia) (see sympathy),^[2] formed from compatior (“to suffer with, feel pity”), from Latin com- (“with”) and patior (“to suffer”) (see patient and passion).^[2][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Suffering together with another, sharing in suffering: 1340, in the Ayenbite of Inwyt.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The feeling of pity for someone in distress is recorded from about 1340,^[7] as is an obsolete sense, sorrow or grief.^[7] To have compassion, to take pity, is from 1382.^[7] A verb compassion, to pity, appears in 1588 but was scarcely ever in use.^[7] The adjective compassionate is from the 16th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1340 – suffering together.^[2][7]
• c. 1340 – pity for another.^[7]
• 1382 – to have compassion.^[7]
• 1588 – to compassion (verb, rare).^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A deep awareness of another's suffering, together with the wish to relieve it; pity and sympathy.

Word family

• compassionless
• compassionate
• compassion fatigue

Related words

• compatible
• passion
• patient
• sympathy

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press