pietas

pietas

See also: pietàs

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *pwījotāts. Equivalent to pius (“pious, devout”) +‎ -tās (“-ty, -dom”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.e.taːs/, [ˈpiɛt̪äːs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.e.tas/, [ˈpiːet̪äs]

Noun

pietās f (genitive pietātis); third declension

1. dutiful conduct, sense of duty and responsibility
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.9-11:

     quidve dolēns rēgīna deum tot volvere cāsūs
     īnsignem pietāte virum tot adīre labōrēs
     impulerit.

     Or what [was] aggrieving the queen of the gods that she would have driven a man – distinguished by [his] piety – to so many turns of misfortunes, [and] to undergo so many trials?
     (These opening lines pose the epic’s enduring question: How can it be that someone dutifully responsible to gods, family, and country – the ancient Roman ideal of “pietās” – should nevertheless suffer? Notes: “of the gods” [de(ōr)um]: genitive plural; “[she] would have driven” [impulerit]: perfect active subjunctive. See: Pietas.)

2. (to the gods) piety, conscientiousness, scrupulousness
3. (to one's parents, children, relatives, country, benefactors, etc.) duty, dutifulness, affection, love, loyalty, patriotism, gratitude
4. gentleness, kindness, tenderness, pity, compassion

   Synonyms: indulgentia, beneficium, cōmitās, benignitās, benevolentia, venia, misericordia, eleēmosyna

   Antonyms: ferōcitās, crūdēlitās, feritās, sevēritās

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pietās	pietātēs
Genitive	pietātis	pietātum
Dative	pietātī	pietātibus
Accusative	pietātem	pietātēs
Ablative	pietāte	pietātibus
Vocative	pietās	pietātēs

Derived terms

• pietāticultrīx
• pietantia
• pietōsus

Related terms

• piē
• piō
• pium
• pius

Descendants

• English: piety, pity
• Friulian: pietât
• Italian: pietà
• Old Occitan:
  • Occitan: pietat
  • Old Catalan: piadat
    • Catalan: pietat
• Old French: pité, pitet
  • French: piété, pitié
• Old Portuguese: piedade
  • Galician: piedade, piedá
  • Portuguese: piedade
• Old Spanish: piedat, piedad, piadad
  • Spanish: piedad
• Romanian: pietate
• Sicilian: piatà, piatati

References

• “pietas”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pietas”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pietas in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pietas in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “pietas”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pietas”, in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray