lament
/ləˈmɛnt/
noun
Origin
Latin
lamentum — wailing, weeping, moaning
Overview
Meaning Now
- A passionate expression of grief or sorrow.
- A song, poem, or piece of music expressing grief.
Language path
Latin → Old French → Middle English → English
Earliest form
lamentacion
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
The word is rooted in the Latin 'lamentum', which shares its etymological ancestry with words for crying or shouting. It entered English through the heavy influence of Old French on the vocabulary of grief and mourning in the late medieval period.
Evolution
- Latin
lamentum
“wailing, weeping”
- Late Latin
lamentari
“to wail, to weep”
deponent verb
- Old French
lamenter
“to wail, to mourn”
- Middle English
lamenten
“to express deep sorrow”
borrowed from Old French
- Modern English
lament
“expression of grief”
Connections
Word parts
lament
root
wail, cry
Related across languages
French
lamenter
to lament
Spanish
lamento
lament
Italian
lamento
complaint, lament
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Related to lament
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.