Editing Pity (section)

== Medieval conceptions ==
[[Geoffrey Chaucer]] wrote "{{lang|enm|pite renneth soone in gentil herte}}" at least ten times in his works, across the ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'' and the ''[[Legend of Good Women]]''.<ref name=Hoffman2016>{{cite book|title=Ovid and the Canterbury Tales|author1-first=Richard L.|author1-last=Hoffman|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-5128-0240-5}}</ref>{{rp|68}}
The word "{{lang|enm|pite}}" had entered [[Middle English]] from Latin "{{lang|la|[[pietas]]}}" in seven spellings: "{{lang|enm|piete}}", "{{lang|enm|pietie}}", "{{lang|enm|pietye}}", "{{lang|enm|pite}}", "{{lang|enm|pitie}}", "{{lang|enm|pyte}}", and "{{lang|enm|pytie}}".<ref name=Garrison2010>{{cite book|title=Pietas from Vergil to Dryden|author1-first=James D.|author1-last=Garrison|publisher=Penn State Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-271-04284-8}}</ref>{{rp|15}}
Early Middle English writers did not yet have words such as "sympathy" and "empathy"; and even the word "compassion" is not attested in English until the 14th century.<ref name=Lazikani2015>{{cite book|title=Cultivating the Heart: Feeling and Emotion in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Religious Texts|author1-first=A.S.|author1-last=Lazikani|publisher=University of Wales Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-78316-265-9}}</ref>{{rp|p=72}}
The Mediaeval writer's notion of "{{lang|enm|pite}}" was thus somewhat different to the divided ideas of pity and [[piety]] in Modern English, which has also since gained connotations of disengagement (the pitier as an observer to and separate from the pitied) and condescension from a superior position.{{r|Lazikani2015|p=73}}

The many senses of the compound notion are exemplified by how Erasmus' ''[[Handbook of a Christian Knight|Enchiridion]]'' was translated in the 16th century.{{r|Garrison2010|p=15}}
In the original Latin, talking about the ways of the spirit versus the ways of the flesh, Erasmus says "{{lang|la|spiritus pios, caro impios}}".{{r|Garrison2010|p=15}}
In translation, the single words in Latin became several phrases in English to encompass the entire range of the original concept, which was by that time bifurcating as the words were bifurcating: "{{lang|en-emodeng|[T]he spiryte maketh us relygyous, obedyent to god, kynde and mercyfull. The flesshe maketh us dispysers of god, disobedyent to god, unkynde and cruell.}}"{{r|Garrison2010|p=15}}

Chaucer's line, described by [[Walter William Skeat|Walter Skeat]] as being Chaucer's favourite, was understood by [[Edgar F. Shannon Jr.|Edgar Finley Shannon]] to be a translation of Ovid's ''[[Tristia]]'' volume 3, verses 31–32, Shannon describing it as "an admirable translation and adaptation of the passage".{{r|Hoffman2016|p=68}}
A noble mind ("{{lang|la|mens generosa}}" in Ovid, "{{lang|en-emodeng|gentil herte}}" in Chaucer) is easily moved ("{{lang|la|faciles motus capit}}" in Ovid, "{{lang|en-emodeng|renneth soone}}" in Chaucer) to kindness ("{{lang|la|plababilis irae}}" in Ovid "{{lang|en-emodeng|pite}}" in Chaucer).{{r|Hoffman2016|pp=68–69}}
In the ''Legend'', Chaucer describes women in general as "{{lang|en-emodeng|pyëtous}}".<ref name=Mann2002>{{cite book|title=Feminizing Chaucer|volume=30|series=Chaucer studies|issn=0261-9822|author1-first=Jill|author1-last=Mann|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|year=2002|isbn=978-0-85991-613-4}}</ref>{{rp|32}}

It wasn't until the 16th century that there was a fully-fledged split between pity and piety.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite book|title=Global Dilemmas: Imperial Bolton-le-Moors from the Hungry Forties to the Death of Leverhulme|author1-first=Malcolm|author1-last=Hardman|chapter=The pity of war|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2017|isbn=978-1-61147-903-4|page=272}}
|2={{cite journal|title=Pietas: réflexions sur l'analyse sémantique et le traitement lexicographique d'un vocable médiéval|author1-first=Bruno|author1-last=Bon|author2-first=Anita|author2-last=Guerreau-Jalabert|journal=Médiévales|year=2002|volume=21 |issue=42|doi=10.3406/medi.2002.1540 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/medi_0751-2708_2002_num_21_42_1540|language=fr|page=78}}
}}</ref>
In the 14th century, [[John Gower]] was, in contrast, using "{{lang|enm|pite}}" in his ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' to encompass both concepts, as his Latin glosses to the text reveal, stating that "{{lang|enm|pite is the foundement of every kinges regiment}}".{{r|Garrison2010|pp=118–119}}
Cognates of the word include the [[Occitan language|Provençal]] "{{lang|oc|[[wikt:pietat|pietat]]}}" and the [[Spanish language|Spanish]] "{{lang|es|[[wikt:piedad#Spanish|piedad]]}}".{{r|Lazikani2015|p=73}}
Like Middle English, Old French took the word from the Latin and gradually split it into "{{lang|fro|[[wikt:pité#Old French|pité]]}}" (later "{{lang|fr|[[wikt:piété#French|piété]]}}") and "{{lang|fro|[[wikt:pitié#French|pitié]]}}".{{r|Garrison2010|p=118}}<ref name=Colot2014>{{cite encyclopaedia|encyclopaedia=Dictionary of Untranslatables: A Philosophical Lexicon|editor1-first=Barbara|editor1-last=Cassin|editor2-first=Emily|editor2-last=Apter|editor3-first=Jacques|editor3-last=Lezra|editor4-first=Michael|editor4-last=Wood|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4008-4991-8|article=pietas|author1-first=Blandine|author1-last=Colot|page=785}}</ref>
[[Italian language|Italian]] in contrast retained the one word: "{{lang|it|[[wikt:pietà#Italian|pietà]]}}", borrowed into English (through French, in the 19th century replacing its older "{{lang|fr|Vierge de pitié}}") as a technical concept in the arts: [[pietà]].{{r|Garrison2010|p=118}}{{r|Colot2014}}