lamentation

English

Beweinung Christi (Lamentation of Christ, 1509) by German painter Bernhard Strigel. The lamentation of Christ is a common subject in Christian art, and shows Jesus being mourned by his family and friends after his crucifixion and descent from the Cross.

Etymology

Recorded since 1375, from Latin lāmentātiō (“wailing, moaning, weeping”), from the deponent verb lāmentor, from lāmentum (“wail; wailing”), itself from a Proto-Indo-European *leh₂- (“to howl”), presumed ultimately imitative. Replaced Old English cwiþan. Lament is a 16th-century back-formation.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˌlæm.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/, /ˌlæm.ɪnˈteɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

lamentation (countable and uncountable, plural lamentations)

1. The act of lamenting.
   • 1922 April, Paul Rosenfeld, “The Water-Colours of John Marin: A Note on the Work of the First American Painter of the Day”, in John Peale Bishop, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 18, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Vanity Fair Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 48, column 2:

     About John Marin, there move sad, disgruntled beings, full of talk and lamentations. [...] They bewail the fact that in America, soil is poor and unconducive to growth, and men remain unmoved by growing green. But Marin persists, and what ebullience and good humour, in the rocky ungentle loam?

2. A sorrowful cry; a lament.
3. Specifically, mourning.
4. lamentatio, (part of) a liturgical Bible text (from the book of Job) and its musical settings, usually in the plural; hence, any dirge
5. A group of swans.

Related terms

• lament
• lamentable
• lamented

 

Translations

the act of lamenting

• Armenian: ողբ (hy) (oġb)
• Bulgarian: тъга (bg) f (tǎga), печал (bg) f (pečal)
• Dutch: geklaag (nl) n, geweeklaag (nl) n, klagen (nl) n, weeklagen (nl) n
• Ewe: konyifafa n
• Finnish: valitus (fi), sureminen (fi)
• Irish: acaoineadh m
• Italian: lamento (it) m
• Latin: lāmentātiō f
• Macedonian: оплаку́вање n (oplakúvanje)
• Polish: lament (pl) m, lamentacja (pl) f
• Romanian: lamentare (ro) f, lamentație (ro) f
• Russian: стенание (ru) n (stenanije)

mourning

• Armenian: ողբ (hy) (oġb)
• Bulgarian: оплакване (bg) n (oplakvane)
• Dutch: rouwklacht
• Ewe: konyifafa n
• Finnish: sureminen (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: θρῆνος m (thrênos)

• Macedonian: оплаку́вање n (oplakúvanje)
• Plautdietsch: Jauma n
• Polish: lament (pl) m, lamentowanie (pl) n, lamentacja (pl) f
• Romanian: doliu (ro) n
• Russian: стенание (ru) n (stenanije)
• Tocharian B: kwasalñe

a sorrowful cry; a lament

• Armenian: ողբ (hy) (oġb)
• Bulgarian: вопъл (bg) m (vopǎl), ридание (bg) n (ridanie)
• Dutch: lamentatie (nl)
• Egyptian: (nḫwt f), (jmw)
• Ewe: konyifafa n
• Finnish: valitusvirsi (fi)
• Irish: acaoineadh m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئاخ و واخ (ax û wax)

• Latin: lamentum n
• Macedonian: плач m (plač)
• Polish: lament (pl) m, lamentowanie (pl) n, lamentacja (pl) f
• Romanian: lamentare (ro) f
• Russian: плач (ru) m (plač)

a group of swans

• Polish: stado (pl) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} gémissement (fr), ^{(please verify)} lamentation (fr)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} lamentación (es)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “lamentation”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French, from Latin lāmentātiōnem (“wailing, moaning, weeping”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /la.mɑ̃.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

lamentation f (plural lamentations)

1. lamentation, loud/ostentatious plaint

Related terms

• lamentable
• lamenter
• mur des Lamentations

 

Further reading

• “lamentation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin lāmentātiō (“wailing, moaning, weeping”).

Noun

lamentation f (plural lamentations)

1. lamentation, loud/ostentatious plaint