pentirsi

Forms

pentirsi (first-person singular present mi pènto, first-person singular past historic mi pentìi, past participle pentìtosi)^[1] An archaic form is pentersi.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin paeniteō (“to cause regret; to be dissatisfied”), which in Late Latin also had a form of the conjugation in ⟨-īre⟩, recorded from the 7th century.^[5][6][1] DEI calls it a semi-learned word spread by the Church.^[7] The same verb gave Old French peneir, Occitan penedir and Catalan penedir-se.^[6][7] French repentir, Spanish arrepentirse and Portuguese arrepender come instead from Medieval Latin repaeniteō, with the prefix re-.^[6] GRADIT treats the word as the pronominal form of pentire.^[8]

The Latin verb may be related to paene (“almost”), in the sense of not having enough;^[5][6][1] the adverb itself has no certain cognates.^[5][6][1] De Vaan finds the basic meaning of the stem to be missing or lacking, and finds neither the comparison with Sanskrit nor a proposed inherited preverb convincing.^[9] The same Latin verb is the source of the learned penitente and penitenza.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, with the sense “to feel sorrow or remorse for what one has done or failed to do”.^[5][10] Nocentini dates the past participle, as pentutu, to the 11th century.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The old participle was pentuto, used by Dante, beside pentito;^[11][6] Old Italian also had pentuta “repentance”.^[11][6] Dante states the moral rule assolver non si può chi non si pente (“one cannot be absolved who does not repent”).^[2] Pentimento appears before 1257 in Bonagiunta Orbicciani; its sense “change of mind” is recorded in 1630 (Davila) and “correction in a text” before 1827 (Foscolo), a use that Ugolini criticised in 1855.^[5]

In the 1980s journalists began to use pentirsi absolutely of terrorists and Mafia members who agree to cooperate with the courts, and pentito for such a person (1980), with the derivative pentitismo (1982).^[4][6]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses pentirsi.^[5]
• Before 1257 – Bonagiunta Orbicciani has pentimento.^[5]
• 1630 – Pentimento is used for a change of purpose (Davila).^[5]
• 1980 – Pentito is used of a defendant who cooperates with justice.^[6]
• 1982 – Pentitismo is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To repent, feel remorse for a wrong one has done (usually with di): Si è pentito di aver mentito ai genitori.^[8][2][3]
2. (Christianity) To feel contrition for one's sins and resolve to do penance.^[8][2]
3. To regret having done or not done something: Mi pento di non aver imparato il tedesco.^[8][2][3]
4. te ne pentirai!: you'll be sorry!, as a threat.^[8][10][4]
5. To change one's mind: Aveva accettato, ma poi si è pentito.^[8][2][10]
6. (journalism) Of a terrorist or Mafia member, to agree to cooperate with the authorities.^[4]

Word family

• pentimento
• pentito
• pentitismo
• ripentirsi

Related words

• penitenza
• penitente
• penuria
• Latin paeniteo

Usage notes

A proverb runs è meglio pentirsi una volta che non pentirsi mai.^[4] Non avrai a pentirtene means “you won't regret it”.^[10][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2840
8. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c d Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 760
12. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli