Pietas
[pahy-i-tas]
- the ancient Roman personification of familial affection, patriotism, and piety.
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Pietà
[pee-ey-tah, pyey-tah, pee-ey-tuh, pyey-]
- a representation of the Virgin Mary mourning over the body of the dead Christ, usually shown held on her lap.
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Origin of Pietà
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for pietas
Historical Examples
Nor can there be any need to show that the name Pola is not a contraction of Pietas Julia.
Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of VeniceEdward A. Freeman
Thus the Roman Poets consider their State in course of ruin because its prisci mores and pietas were failing.
An Essay on the Development of Christian DoctrineJohn Henry Cardinal Newman
The words that suggest most clearly the Roman attitude towards what we call charity are liberalitas, beneficentia and pietas.
Pietas has the religious note which the other words lack, loving dutifulness to gods and home and country.
Pietas is Virgil's word for religion, as it had been Cicero's in his more exalted moments.
The Religious Experience of the Roman PeopleW. Warde Fowler
pietà
- a sculpture, painting, or drawing of the dead Christ, supported by the Virgin Mary
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Word Origin
Italian: pity, from Latin pietās piety
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for pietas
Pieta
n.
"Virgin holding the dead body of Christ," 1640s, from Italian pieta, from Latin pietatem (see piety).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Pietà
[(pyay-tah; pee-ay-tah)]
A painting, drawing, or sculpture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, holding the dead body of Jesus. The word means “pity” in Italian.
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Note
The most famous of four Pietàs by Michelangelo is a sculpture at Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.