Miserere

See also: miserere

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin miserēre (“have pity”), the first word of the psalm in that language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɪzəˈɹɛəɹi/

Proper noun

the Miserere

1. 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.
   • 1845, J. T. Headley, Letters from Italy, page 130:

     One of the most impressive ceremonies of Holy Week is the chanting of the Miserere.

   • 2004, Joyce E. Salisbury, The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Daily Life: 15th and 16th Centuries, →ISBN, page 132:

     When someone did want to designate a short interval, the usual phrasing drew on religious vocabulary, calling up the duration of common prayers: the Paternoster, the Ave Maria, and the Miserere.

   • 2008, Lorenzo Candelaria, The Rosary Cantoral: Ritual and Social Design in a Chantbook from Early Renaissance Toledo, →ISBN, page 75:

     Psalm 50, the “Miserere,” was linked to the Passion of Christ by a peculiar story from the thirteenth century known as the “rood legend,” a popular history concerning the wood of the Cross. According to that legend, David had composed the “Miserere” as penance for his sins under the very tree that provided the wood for the Holy Cross.

References

• “Miserere”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin, 2000, →ISBN.
• “Miserere”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin miserēre (“have pity”), the first word of the 51st Psalm, probably a nickname for a foundling.

Proper noun

Miserere m or f by sense

1. a surname transferred from the nickname [in turn from Latin]

Further reading

• Stefano Ravara, Mappa dei Cognomi, 2015-2024