AboutTed Nesbitt Expertise I have an interest in the meanings of words and phrases, as well as how and when they became part of the English language. I enjoy
researching idioms, colloquialisms, dialects, and obscurities of
all kinds. I prefer short questions on a particular subject, and
I will not accept lengthy research projects or term papers. NOTE: ALLEXPERTS CLAIMS THAT I TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN AND FROM LATIN TO ENGLISH. I DO NOT. ALLEXPERTS REFUSES TO DELETE THE LATIN-TO-ENGLISH SERVICE -- ONE THAT I DO NOT PROVIDE.
TRUST ME ON THIS: ALLEXPERTS IS WRONG. I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LANGUAGE. LOOK FOR A LANGUAGE EXPERT INSTEAD. ETYMOLOGY AND TRANSLATING SERVICES ARE ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. ALLEXPERTS SHOULD KNOW THAT. ALLEXPERTS DOES NOT KNOW THAT. I HAVE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS TO GET THEM TO CHANGE. THEY WILL NOT. SORRY, BUT I DO NOT TRANSLATE FROM ENGLISH TO LATIN.
Experience I am the bibliographic instruction and reference librarian at a public
college. My master's thesis concerns William Faulkner's tragic novels. I formerly taught advanced placement English at two schools in the Philadelphia area.
I have been a member of the grammar and writing section of Allexperts
for more than a year.
Education/Credentials Masters degrees in English, philosophy, and library science.
The word "compassion" was borrowed by the English from the French. The French word is originally from the Latin words "com" [with] and "pati" [to suffer].
According to The Oxford English Dictionary -- I am pasting in its information below -- the word first entered WRITTEN English in the year 1340. It was not until 1561 that it was spelled "compassion."
For a very brief time, the word "compassion" was used as a verb [Shakespeare used it that way], but using it as a verb became obsolete.
Ted Nesbitt
[latinized ad. F. compassionné, pa. pple. of compassionner to compassionate
f. Latin com- together with + pati to suffer
NOUN
1. Suffering together with another, participation in suffering; fellow-feeling, sympathy. Obs.
1340 Ayenb. 148 Huanne on leme is zik o er y-wonded. hou moche zor e he e herte and grat compassion y-uel . 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. V. i. (1495) 100 The membres ben so sette togyders that..euery hath compassyon of other. 1561 EDEN Arte de Nauig. Pref., Such a mutuall compassion of parte to parte..by one common sence existent in them all. 1625 GILL Sacr. Philos. iv. 63 That it was onely by a vegetable or animall soule, which suffered by compassion with the body.
