Etymograph

English

impenitent

Impenitent comes from Latin impaenitēns ‘unrepentant’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpaenitēns‘unrepentant’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpaenitentem
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impenitent‘not penitent, unrepentant’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1532same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpaenitēns‘unrepentant’
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEimpaenitentem
  3. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500impenitent‘not penitent, unrepentant’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1532same form

Earliest quotation: 1532, Thomas More, William Rastell]: “[I]f they mende and repente better, will in ſtede…”

The story

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English impenitent (‘not penitent, unrepentant’), from Latin impaenitentem, the accusative feminine or masculine singular of impaenitēns (‘unrepentant’), from im- (a variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘not’) + paenitēns (‘contrite, penitent, regretting, repenting’) (the present active participle of paeniteō (‘to be sorry, regret; to cause to repent; to repent’), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₁- (‘to hate; to hurt’)).

Every English word from Latin impaenitēns

Today it means

adj Not penitent; specifically (Christianity), not repenting of one's sins; unrepentant.

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

Etymograph / Latin impaenitēns / impenitent

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