pity

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈpɪt.i/, US /ˈpɪt̬.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French pité, pitié, compassion, mercy (modern pitié),^[2][3][4] from Latin pietās (“piety, dutifulness”) (see piety),^[2][3][4] from pius, pious.^[2][5] In later Latin pietās took on the sense of compassion and kindness,^[4] and Old French pite and piete had both meanings before they were told apart.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The disposition to mercy or compassion, clemency: before 1225 in the OED,^[6] before 1250 as pite in the Ancrene Riwle;^[2] the surname Pitie is from 1195.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A feeling of tenderness for another's suffering, and to have or take pity, are from about 1290.^[6] A cause for regret (it's a pity) is from about 1369.^[6] In Middle English pity could also mean devotion to God, and pity and piety were not fully distinguished until the 17th century.^[2][3][4] It replaced Old English mildheortness, “mild-heartedness”, a loan translation of Latin misericordia.^[3] The verb, to feel pity for, is from before 1475,^[2] the late 15th century in Etymonline;^[3] to arouse pity in someone was common in the 16th and 17th centuries but is now obsolete.^[3] Pitiful is from about 1303.^[2]

Timeline

• 1195 – Pitie (surname).^[2]
• before 1225 – mercy, compassion.^[6]
• c. 1290 – to have pity.^[6]
• c. 1303 – pitiful.^[2]
• c. 1369 – a cause for regret.^[6]
• before 1475 – to pity (verb).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Sorrow and sympathy felt for the suffering of others.
2. Something that causes regret: what a pity you can't come.
3. take pity on: to show mercy or kindness to.

Verb

1. To feel pity for.

Word family

• pityingly
• unpitied
• pitier
• pitiless
• piteous
• pitiable
• pitiful
• self-pity

Related words

• piety
• pious
• pittance

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 g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press