Episode 44: pity
The English terminology surrounding "pity" comes from Latin—from pietas—but as students of classical Latin know, this word is best translated as "dutifulness" or "loyalty." The development of an ancient word for dutifulness into our contemporary idea of mercy or compassion is a strange story, weaving through Old French and early English and even the Pietà, Michelangelo's masterful sculpture in St. Peter's. Later, we consider the religious and political writer Simone Weil, who wrote an influential essay about Homer's Iliad: "The Iliad, or the Poem of Force."
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Music: Adapted from Sonatine by Maurice Ravel, performed by Irene Posviatovska (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)
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