Clemencie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Forgiving kindness shown when punishing someone who has wronged others ; an archaic reference to the gentleness or mildness of the weather
2. A merciful willingness to spare a wrongdoer from full punishment ; the mild, gentle quality of the air or weather in older usage
3. Lenient mercy extended to a guilty party ; the tender mildness of a season or climate, as the word was once used

Etymology: "Clemencie" is a Middle English word meaning mercy or leniency, the noun form of "clement," which in turn comes from Latin "clemens," meaning mild, merciful, or gentle. Its Middle English form was borrowed from Old French "clemence," which passed the Latin root into English through the Anglo-Norman-influenced court and legal language of the later Middle Ages. The word is now archaic. It survives in modern English as "clemency," the form that eventually displaced it, and that form is still used mainly for official pardons, reduced sentences, and acts of leniency toward offenders. The older spelling "clemencie" reflects the medieval habit of ending such nouns with a "-ie" or "-y" ending, a pattern that gradually gave way to the "-cy" spelling we use today.