Etymograph

English

Miserere

Miserere comes from Latin miseror ‘have pity’, from miser ‘miserable, unhappy’, and ultimately from Proto-Italic *misseros.

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*misserosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmiser‘miserable, unhappy’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmiseroras miserēre‘have pity’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1845Miserere

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*misserosreconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmiser‘miserable, unhappy’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmiseroras miserēre‘have pity’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1845Miserere

Earliest quotation: 1845, J. T. Headley, Letters from Italy: “One of the most impressive ceremonies of Holy Week…”

Linked words

through Latin miser ‘miserable, unhappy’

measles, 18 more

Today it means

name The 51st Psalm (50th in the older Greek and Latin numbering), beginning “Have mercy upon me, O God …” in the King James Version; sometimes set to music.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Italic *misseros / Miserere

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