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
Word family
- compassionless
- compassionate
- compassion fatigue
Related words
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
- ^ 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