Pitiful

Pitiful - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

PIT'IFUL, a. [See Pity.] Full of pity; tender; compassionate; having a heart to feel sorrow and sympathy for the distressed. James 5. 1 Pet 3. [This is the proper sense of the word.]

1. Miserable; moving compassion; as a sight most pitiful; a pitiful condition.

2. To be pitied for its littleness or meanness; paltry; contemptible; despicable.

That's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it.

3. Very small; insignificant.

pit'-i-fool: As found in Scripture, means "full of pity"; it is expressed by rachamani, from rachamim (plural of racham), "bowels," "compassion" (La 4:10 the King James Version, its only occurrence in the Old Testament), "The hands of the pitiful women have sodden their own children." In Jas 5:11, we have the beautiful saying, The Lord is very pitiful (the Revised Version (British and American) "full of pity") and of tender mercy," where "very pitiful" is the translation of polusplagchnos, literally, "of many bowels," a word which does not occur elsewhere; it might be translated "large-hearted" or "tender-hearted." In Ecclesiasticus 2:11, we have "The Lord, is .... very, pitiful" (oiktirmon); eusplagchnos, well-hearted," "compassionate," "full of pity," occurs in 1Pe 3:8, "Love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous," the Revised Version (British and American) "loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humble-minded." The word is found in The Prayer of Manasseh 7; Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, Zeb 8 2.

W. L. Walker