Piety - Etymology

Etymology

The word piety comes from the Latin word pietas, the noun form of the adjective pius (which means "devout" or "good"). Pietas in traditional Latin usage expressed a complex, highly valued Roman virtue; a man with pietas respected his responsibilities to gods, country, parents, and kin. In its strictest sense it was the sort of love a son ought to have for his father.

The Latin term in turn may derive from "Piodasses", an ancient Greek transliteration of the Indic Prakrit term "Piyadasi" (Sanskrit: Priyadarśi), meaning "beloved of the gods", a term by which the Indian Maurya Emperor Ashoka the Great referred to himself in the Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BC).

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