pénitence

Forms

pénitence f (plural pénitences)^[1] Old French penitence and penitance, beside the more French forms penance and peneance.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin paenitentia (“regret, repentance”), derived from the impersonal verb paenitet, probably from paene (“almost, scarcely”).^[2][3][5] The verb first meant “not to have enough of, not to be satisfied with”, then “to regret, repent”; that sense brought the spelling ⟨poenitet⟩ by association with poena (“penalty”).^[2][3] In Christian Latin the noun named regret for sin and its outward signs (fasting, mortification, public penance), then the remission of sins (5th century) and the sacrament of reconciliation (12th century).^[2][3]

Old French also had the more French forms penance (1120–1150) and peneance (about 1135), which went out of use in Middle French;^[2][3] Littré compares Occitan penitencia, Spanish penitencia and Italian penitenzia.^[4] Picoche puts the learned word in the family of the inherited repentir.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) uses it for religious mortification: Par penitence s'en pot tres bien salver (“By penance he could well be saved”).^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Before the end of the 12th century the word had taken all the values of Christian Latin:^[3] the penalty laid on a sinner, already in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), where Turpin orders the knights to strike par penitence;^[2][4] the sacrament (prendre penitence, 1120–1150);^[2] and repentance for sins against God (1155, Wace).^[2] It entered phrases such as estre en penitance (about 1165) and faire penitance (early 13th century).^[2][3]

In the early 13th century faire penitance is used in courtly poetry of a knight rejected by his lady.^[3][2][4] By extension the word came to mean “punishment” (1559, Amyot), a forfeit in parlour games (recorded by the Académie in 1718), and anything unpleasant or mortifying, while it stayed a word of religious language.^[3][2][6] Furetière recorded faire pénitence for eating poorly in 1690.^[6][7] English penitence (about 1200) comes from Old French and directly from Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – The Vie de saint Alexis has penitence “mortification”.^[2][3]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses it for a penance imposed on sinners.^[2][4]
• 1120–1150 – Prendre penitence refers to the sacrament; the form penance appears.^[2]
• 1155 – Wace uses it for repentance.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Estre en penitance appears.^[2][3]
• Early 13th century – Faire penitance is used of a rejected lover.^[2][3]
• 13th century – The derivative pénitencier “priest who hears confessions” appears.^[3]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for a punishment outside religion.^[2][3]
• 1690 – Furetière records faire pénitence “to eat poorly”.^[6]
• 1694 – The Académie records le tribunal de la pénitence.^[6]
• 1718 – The Académie records its use for a forfeit in games.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Deep repentance for having offended God, with the resolve to make amends: faire pénitence.^[9][2]
2. The sacrament in which the priest gives absolution, confession.^[9][4]
3. A penance imposed by the confessor; a mortification one takes on to atone for sins.^[9][2]
4. (by extension) A punishment: Pour sa pénitence, il rangera la classe.^[9][3]
5. A forfeit in parlour games.^[6][3]

Word family

• pénitencier
• pénitencerie
• pénitentiaire

Related words

• pénitent
• impénitence
• repentir
• Latin paenitentia
• English penitence
• English penance

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert