confessare Italian · revision 39047

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=late 12th century, Tuscan document|origins=la fateor}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /kon.fesˈsa.re/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''confessare''' (first-person singular present confèsso, first-person singular past historic confessài, past participle confessàto, auxiliary avére)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old Italian spellings include ''chonfessare'', ''chofesare'' and ''cconfessare''.^(TLIO) Old Sicilian had ''confessari'' and ''confissari''.^(LEI|16, 1430)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a learned or half-learned word, [[bor|la-med|cōnfessō|alt=*cōnfessāre]], a verb formed in Church and medieval Latin on [[m|la|cōnfessus|t=having admitted]], the past participle of [[m|la|cōnfiteor|t=to admit, confess]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(Wiktionary)^(DEI|1056)^(GDLI) The Latin verb is a compound of [[m|la|con-]] and [[m|la|fateor|t=to acknowledge, admit]]; in Christian Latin it translated [[grc|ὁμολογέω|tr=homologéō]] of the New Testament.^(Nocentini 2010)^(de Vaan 2008)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI and the TLIO call the base a spoken Latin verb, and DELI treats it under the adjective “confessed”.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ The LEI explains the verb as coming through the participle, from the many phrases of the type [[confesso|alt=essere confesso]] “to have confessed”, found also in the Old French phrase [[m|fro|estre cunfes]] and in Old Umbrian [[m|roa-oit|confessu]], recorded in 1065.^(LEI|16, 1430) The same verb is [[fr|confesser]] (about 1172–1175, Chrétien de Troyes), [[pro|confessar]], [[es|confesar]] and [[rm|confessar]].^(LEI|16, 1430)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is a Tuscan document from the end of the 12th century;^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) GRADIT dates the word to about 1274.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI's oldest sense, “to declare the receipt of a sum”, is in a Pratese document of 1293, a legal use the TLIO also lists.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The religious senses appear around 1300: Iacopone (before 1306) uses the verb for telling one's sins to a priest, and Dante (before 1321) for the priest who hears confession.^(DELI 1999) In law, as in Dino Compagni's chronicle (1310–1312), it meant to admit openly a crime or other blameworthy act; a man under torture “confessed” to having taken false testimony.^(DELI 1999)^(GDLI) Old Italian also used it for professing one's faith in public, despite the consequences.^(TLIO)

+

+ In modern Italian the verb covers admitting a fault or crime, confiding a secret or a feeling (''ti confesso che…'' “I must admit…”), and the sacrament; the reflexive [[confessarsi]] is to go to confession.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010) The Tuscan proverb ''Chi tutto nega, tutto confessa'', “he who denies everything confesses everything”, is in Tommaseo.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 12th century – A Tuscan document has the first record.^(TLIO)

+ * 1293 – A Pratese document uses it for acknowledging receipt of a sum.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1306 – Iacopone uses it for confessing one's sins.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1310–1312 – Dino Compagni uses it for admitting a crime.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses it for the priest hearing confession.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|confess]], [[ammettere|alt=admit]] a fault, error or crime: ''Alla fine il ladro ha confessato tutto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # To reveal something personal or secret; to admit: ''Ti confesso che non ho letto il libro.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(religion)'' To tell one's sins in [[confessione|alt=confession]]; of a priest, to hear confession: ''Il parroco confessa il sabato pomeriggio.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(literary)'' To profess a faith openly: ''confessare Cristo''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[confessarsi]]

+ * [[sconfessare]]

+ * [[sconfessione]]

+ * [[confessabile]]

+ * [[riconfessare]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[confessione]]

+ * [[confesso]]

+ * [[confessore]]

+ * [[confessionale]]

+ * [[professare]]

+ * [[la|confiteor]]

+ * [[fr|confesser]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}