pitoyable

Forms

pitoyable (plural pitoyables)^[1] Old French piteable (about 1120), also piteauble (13th century) and pitieable;^[2][3] pitoyable from about 1485.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French pitié + -able, first as piteable.^[2][4][1][5] The modern form arose by assimilation to the change of apitier into apitoyer.^[2][4][1] It replaced the Old French adjective pitable (“gentle, inclined to pity”) (13th–14th centuries), derived from piteux.^[2][4] The noun comes from pietās (“piety”), which in Christian Latin took on the sense “compassion for the misfortune of others”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as piteable in the Cambridge Psalter, in the first half of the 12th century, meaning “inclined to pity, merciful”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The active sense of a person disposed to pitié was still alive in the 17th century, but it was giving way: in 1660 Corneille replaced the word by favorable.^[4] In the 13th century it had already taken the passive sense “that inspires pity”, and in 1316 it is used of what is done out of pity.^[2][4] The Roman de la Rose has Ele ot le cuer si piteable (“she had so compassionate a heart”).^[7]

As pitié sometimes took a scornful tone, the adjective moved towards “arousing contemptuous pity”, “wretchedly bad in its kind”, a sense recorded by Richelet in 1680.^[4][2] In the 16th century it could also mean “pious”, as in legacies left for charitable purposes.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Piteable “merciful” appears in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2][3]
• 13th century – Piteauble “that inspires pity” is recorded.^[2]
• 1316 – Used of what is done out of pity, in Jehan Maillart's Comte d'Anjou.^[2]
• c. 1485 – The form pitoyable appears in the Mistère du Viel Testament.^[2]
• 1559 – The adverb pitoyablement is found in Amyot.^[2]
• 1660 – Corneille replaces the word in the active sense.^[4]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “bad, mediocre”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated, literary) Inclined to feel pity, compassionate.^[8][2]
2. That inspires pity, pitiful: Le vieux chien était dans un état pitoyable.^[8]
3. That deserves contemptuous pity, pathetic, lamentable: Sa défense a été pitoyable.^[8][1]

Word family

• pitoyablement
• impitoyable

Related words

• pitié
• piteux
• apitoyer
• pitance

Usage notes

In old ordinances lieux pitoyables were hospitals, leper-houses and similar charitable institutions.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert