Where does “penance” come from?
Penance comes from Middle English penaunce, from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia, the noun form of paenitens, from the verb paeniteo, ultimately derived from the Proto-Indo-European root peh₁-.
penance (English): A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful...
Definitions
- A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful...
Ancestry of “penance”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | penaunce | penance |
| 2 | Old French | peneance | — |
| 3 | Latin | paenitentia | repentance, penitence, regret; penance;... |
| 4 | Ancient Greek | μετάνοια | afterthought, repentance |
| 5 | Ancient Greek | μετανοέω | to perceive afterwards or too late; to change... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | νοέω | to perceive, observe, see, notice; to think,... |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | νόος | mind; an act of mind; the sense or meaning of a... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | σφαῖρα | ball, globe, sphere |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | -ειδής | like, connected to, from the nature of, full of;... |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | -ής | adjective suffix |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -ēs | Primarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | -ess | — |
| 13 | Proto-Indo-European | -os | Creates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;... |