mea culpa

mea culpa

English

Etymology

From the Latin phrase meā culpā (“through my fault”), from mea (“my, mine”) and culpa (“fault”) in the ablative case.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʊl.pə/, /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʌl.pə/, /ˌmiː.əˈkʊl.pə/, /ˌmiː.əˈkʌl.pə/

Interjection

mea culpa

1. My fault, due to my error; I am to blame.

   Synonyms: my bad, peccavi

Related terms

• mea maxima culpa

See also

• stand corrected

Noun

mea culpa (plural mea culpas or mea culpae)

1. An instance of mea culpa; an apology.

   Synonym: peccavi

   • 2018 January 13, Tad Bartimus, “When There’s Nuke Headed Your Way, ‘Do What You Gotta Do’”, in Civil Beat:

     Basketball had been replaced by breathless commentators cross-talking and speculating, politicians on split screens eagerly interrupting each other to find scapegoats, and most mute (male) state officials, including Hawaii Gov. David Ige, opening their mouths to sputter (paraphrasing here) — golly gee, we don’t know what happened, but we plan to find out — mea culpas.

   • 2021 September 1, Michael D. Shear; Jim Tankersley, “Biden Defends Afghan Pullout and Declares an End to Nation-Building”, in The New York Times‎, ISSN 0362-4331:

     The president refused to offer any sort of mea culpa on Tuesday, even as the Taliban celebrated their “independence” from America with gunfire in the streets of Kabul.

   • 2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian‎, ISSN 0261-3077:

     At her trial, lawyers convinced Manning to issue a mea culpa: […]

Translations

my fault, due to my error

Armenian: մեղա (hy) (meła) Catalan: mea culpa f Chinese: Mandarin: 是我的错 (shì wǒ de cuò) Czech: moje chyba, moje vina Dutch: mijn schuld Esperanto: mia kulpo Finnish: mea culpa, minun vikani French: mea culpa (fr) Georgian: ჩემი ბრალია (čemi bralia) German: mea culpa (de), meine Schuld f, Schuldeingeständnis n Greek: ήμαρτον (el) (ímarton) Hebrew: טעות שלי‎ Hindi: मेरी ग़लती (merī ġaltī), मेरी ग़लती है (merī ġaltī hai) Ido: mea kulpo Italian: colpa mia Korean: 내 탓 (nae tat), 내 탓이오 (nae tasio) Malayalam: എന്റെ പിഴ (enṟe piḻa) Portuguese: minha culpa Punjabi: ਮੇਰੀ ਗ਼ਲਤੀ (merī ġaltī), ਮੇਰੀ ਗ਼ਲਤੀ ਹੈ (merī ġaltī hai) Russian: моя́ вина (mojá vina) Serbo-Croatian: moja greška Spanish: culpa mía, mi culpa Turkish: benim hatam Volapük: döbot obik West Frisian: myn skuld

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French

Etymology

From the Latin phrase meā culpā (“through my fault”), from mea (“my, mine”) and culpa (“fault”) in the ablative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me.a kul.pa/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

mea culpa

1. mea culpa

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Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.aː ˈkul.paː/, [ˈmeäː ˈkʊɫ̪päː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.a ˈkul.pa/, [ˈmɛːä ˈkulpä]

Phrase

meā culpā

1. through my fault
   • (Can we date this quote?), Text of the Tridentine Mass:

     Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Ioanni Baptistæ, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et vobis, fratres: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

     I confess to the Almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you brethren, that I have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word, and deed: through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

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Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin meā culpā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.a ˈkul.pa/
• Rhymes: -ulpa

Phrase

mea culpa

1. mea culpa

Further reading

• mea culpa in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mea culpa in Polish dictionaries at PWN