confiteri

Confiteri is a Latin verb meaning “to confess” or “to acknowledge.” It is a deponent verb, typically classified with the third conjugation, and its principal parts are confiteor, confiteri, confessus sum. In the present system it is conjugated as confiteor, confiteris, confitetur, confitemur, confitemini, confitentur; the present infinitive is confiteri, and the perfect forms are built with the participle confessus (often confisus) sum. As a deponent, the verb uses passive morphology while conveying active meaning.

Origin and usage: The verb derives from the Proto-Italic root for “to admit,” via the verb fateri, with con- as a prefix relationship rather than a separate semantic element. It has a long history in classical Latin, appearing in legal, rhetorical, and literary contexts to express admission of fault, truth, belief, or fact. It governs direct objects or clause constructions that specify what is confessed.

Ecclesiastical usage: In Latin liturgy and ecclesiastical texts, confiteri and its forms appear frequently. The best-known form is the first-person present “Confiteor Deo omnipotenti” (“I confess to Almighty God”), the opening line of the Confiteor prayer used in the Roman Catholic Penitential Rite. The deponent morphology remains in liturgical language, even as the sense remains “to confess” or “to acknowledge.”

See also: confession, confessio, confessor.