misericordia

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [mɪ.sɛ.rɪˈkɔr.di.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [mi.s̬e.riˈkɔr.di.a]^[1]

Forms

misericordia f (genitive misericordiae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from misericors “tender-hearted” with the suffix -ia; ⟨misericors⟩ is from miser “wretched” and cor “heart”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds no accepted Proto-Indo-European source for ⟨miser⟩, and traces ⟨cor⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *ḱḗr (“heart”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was tender-heartedness, pity, compassion, mercy, which Cicero defines as distress at the misery of another who suffers wrongly, misericordiā capī was to be moved to pity; and in rhetoric an appeal to pity, pathos, as in Cicero.^[2][5][6] The Thesaurus notes that, said of God, it means mercy without any distress of heart.^[7]

In Christian and Medieval Latin it was God's mercy and its signs, and kindness, grace.^[8][9] It survives in French miséricorde and Italian misericordia, and English borrowed it as misericord.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Pity, compassion, mercy.^[2]
2. (rhetoric) An appeal to pity, pathos.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The mercy of God.^[8]

Related words

• miseria
• misericorditer
• misericors
• miser
• cor
• English misericord

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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson