penitentadj.n.

Etymology: < Middle French penitent (French pénitent ) that repents (c1370; 1357 of God; earlier in Old French as noun in an isolated attestation in sense ‘punishment’), (of a thing) expressive of repentance (1603), person who repents (1496), member of a lay confraternity practising repentance (1598) and its etymon classical Latin paenitent-, paenitēns that repents, person who repents, in post-classical Latin specifically in Christian context (Vetus Latina as noun, 5th cent. in inscriptions as adjective), uses as adjective and noun of present participle of paenitēre (also pēnitēre , poenitēre : see note) to repent, to cause to repent, to cause dissatisfaction, originally as an impersonal verb, generally thought to be related to paene almost (see pene- prefix), perhaps via an unattested adjective *paenitus . Middle French penitent was originally a learned form in ecclesiastical use, which gradually displaced peneant , penant (see penant n.). In sense B. 5 after Spanish penitente (see Penitente n. 2).The Latin form paenitere is recorded in inscriptions from the 1st cent. a.d. and in manuscripts of classical Latin authors; penitere in inscriptions from the 5th cent. a.d. and (less frequently than paenitere ) in manuscripts of classical Latin authors; poenitere only in medieval manuscripts (probably influenced by classical Latin poena penalty, punishment: see poena n.).