Confessour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who openly admits a fault, crime, or wrongdoing ; a priest who listens to penitents' admissions of sin and grants absolution ; a holy person who endured persecution for their faith without being put to death
2. Someone who owns up to a wrong they have done ; a cleric who hears sinners' admissions and pronounces forgiveness ; a saint honored for suffering hardship for religious belief without being killed for it
3. One who acknowledges guilt or error ; a churchman authorized to receive penitent sins and give absolution ; a historic saint venerated for enduring persecution for the faith while surviving

Etymology: Middle English "confessour" is the older spelling of "confessor," and it is a word that came into English with the Church. It derives from Old French "confesseor," which comes from Latin "confessor," the person who confesses or acknowledges the faith. In Latin, "confessor" was used for a Christian who had professed faith under persecution without being martyred, and the meaning later shifted to a priest who hears confession and grants absolution. The Latin word is built from "confessus," the past participle of "confiteri," meaning "to confess," which combines "com-" (together, intensive) with "fateri" (to acknowledge). So the core idea is a full, open acknowledgement, and the same root gives English "confess" and "confession." The spelling with "-our" reflects the Anglo-Norman and Old French habit of writing a -our ending for words that became "-or" in modern English.