Etymologically
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miseratio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɪ.sɛˈraː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [mi.s̬eˈrat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

miserātiō f (genitive miserātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin miseror (“to pity”) + -tiō,[2][1][3] from miser (“wretched”).[4] miser goes back to Proto-Italic *misros; it is possibly connected with maereō (“to grieve”), but no acceptable Indo-European origin has been found.[5] Compare Tocharian A msär (“difficult”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[4] who asks who is not delighted, with a kind of pity, by the dying Epaminondas.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is pity or compassion, and in oratory the expression of grief or an appeal to pity, as Cicero's speech delivered with many complaints and much lamentation.[2][6]

In medieval texts it is divine mercy or grace, and absolution.[7] Church Latin glosses it “mercy, kindness, compassion”.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of pity and of appeals to pity.[2][4]
  • Middle Ages – Divine mercy; absolution.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Pity, compassion.[2][6][1]
  2. An appeal to pity, lamentation.[2][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Divine mercy; absolution.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson