misereor

Forms

misereor (present infinitive miserērī or miserērier, perfect active miseritus sum or misertus sum); second conjugation, deponent^[1] Beside the deponent there is an active misereō and an impersonal mē miseret, “I feel pity”.^[2][3][4] The participle misertus is post-classical.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from miser (“wretched”) with the verb ending -eō.^[2][1][4] De Vaan reconstructs ⟨miser⟩ as Proto-Italic *misro-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂isro-, comparing Tocharian A msär (“difficult”) and perhaps maereō (“to grieve”), but says that no accepted Indo-European pedigree has been found.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as the first author of the verb,^[5] who has the deponent with a genitive: frūstrā es quī mē tuī miserērī postulās, “you ask in vain that I pity you”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to feel or show pity for someone, usually as a deponent with the genitive, Ennius has the active, and in entreaties miserēminī means “for pity's sake”.^[2] The impersonal mē miseret with the genitive, “I am moved to pity”, is found from Ennius, and its deponent form miseritum est from Plautus.^[2]

In the Vulgate miserēre meī, Deus, “have mercy on me, O God”, opens Psalm 50, and English named the psalm miserere around 1200.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “pity, have mercy on, have compassion for”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of feeling pity.^[2][5][8]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the active and the impersonal.^[2][8]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate's miserēre meī, Deus.^[6][8]
• c. 1200 – English miserere, the 51st Psalm.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To feel or show pity (for), to have compassion (on), with the genitive.^[2][1][7]
2. miserēminī, “for pity's sake”.^[2]
3. (impersonal) mē miseret, I am moved to pity, I feel sorry (for).^[2][3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To have mercy (on).^[7][6]

Related words

• miser
• misericordia
• English miserere

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes miserērī, to feel pity in the heart, from miserārī, to express pity in words, to commiserate.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper