resipiscentia

Updated: July 28, 2026

At the Reformation, for example, when Latin was still more or less the language of theology, how earnest a controversy raged round the word in the Greek Testament which we have rendered 'repentance'; whether 'poenitentia' should be allowed to stand, hallowed by long usage as it was, or 'resipiscentia, as many of the Reformers preferred, should be substituted in its room; and how much on either side could be urged.

Richard Chenevix Trench - On the Study of Words