pathetic English · revision 7729

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1573|origins=grc πάσχω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pəˈθɛtɪk/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|pathétique|t=moving, stirring]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from Late Latin [[m|la-lat|patheticus]], from Greek [[m|grc|παθητικός|tr=pathētikós|t=sensitive, capable of feeling]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) from pathētós, liable to suffer, from the stem of páskhein, to suffer (see [[pathos]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) from PIE [[ine-pro|*kʷentʰ-|alt=*kwent(h)-|t=to suffer]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Affecting the emotions, moving: pathetical 1573,^(Barnhart 1988) pathetique 1598, in Marston's ''The Scourge of Villainy''.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The broad sense, moving or stirring, is now obsolete.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Passionate, earnest, is an obsolete sense of 1648,^(OED 1989) and of the passions of the mind from 1649.^(OED 1989) Both the spelling pathetic and the meaning arousing pity are first recorded in 1737, in Pope.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) The ''pathetic fallacy'', the attribution of human feelings to nature, was first used by Ruskin in 1856.^(Etymonline) The colloquial sense, so miserable or inadequate as to be ridiculous, is attested by 1937.^(Etymonline)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1573 – pathetical.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1598 – moving (obsolete).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1737 – arousing pity.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1856 – pathetic fallacy.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1937 – contemptibly inadequate.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Arousing [[pity]], [[sympathy]] or sorrow.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Pitifully inadequate.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(British, informal)'' Contemptibly worthless or uninteresting.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pathetically]]

+ * [[pathetical]]

+ * [[patheticalness]]

+ * [[hyperpathetic]]

+ * [[pathetic fallacy]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[apathetic]]

+ * [[pathos]]

+ * [[sympathy]]

+ * [[apathy]]

+ * [[empathy]]

+ * [[pathology]]

+ * [[passion]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}