English → Latin
“contrition” in Latin
attrītiōThe act of rubbing upon or against; attrition.atterōto wear away, rub away; to grind; to chafe
The English word contrition itself goes back to Latin terō, through contrītiō.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
contrition
act of rubbing to powder, etc., attritio, attritus, us (attritus, Plin., Sen., ; attritio, perhaps only Lampridius, and Marc. Capella; Freund). To reduce anything to powder by contrition, quam minutissime commolere aliquid (to a very fine powder, Col., 12, 28, 1); aliquid conterere in pulverem (Plin.).
Deep sorrow for sin, *animus acerbissima poenitentia afflictus [ ☞ contritio has the sufficient authority of Lactantius for ecclesiastical Latin. As distinguished from “attrition,” by Roman Cutholic writers, *contritio, quam Pontificii vocant. The Roman Catholics distinguish contrition from attrition, *Pontificii aliud contritionem, aliud attritionem esse volunt]. So deep or so sincere was his contrition, tanta vis erat poenitendi (Curt.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for contrition?
- The usual Latin words for “contrition” are attrītiō, atterō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.