different between penance vs sackcloth

English

Etymology

From Middle English penaunce, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French peneance, from Latin paenitentia (“penitence”). Doublet of penitence.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?n.?ns/
• Hyphenation: pen?ance

Noun

penance (countable and uncountable, plural penances)

1. A voluntary self-imposed punishment for a sinful act or wrongdoing. It may be intended to serve as reparation for the act.
   • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

     Quoth he, "The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do."

2. A sacrament in some Christian churches.
3. Any instrument of self-punishment.
4. (obsolete) repentance
5. (obsolete) pain; sorrow; suffering

   • ne Joy nor penance he feeleth none.

Synonyms

• penitence
• atonement

Related terms

Translations

Verb

penance (third-person singular simple present penances, present participle penancing, simple past and past participle penanced)

1. To impose penance; to punish.

English

Etymology

From Middle English sakcloth, sekcloth, sekclath, sekklath, equivalent to sack +? cloth.

Noun

sackcloth (countable and uncountable, plural sackcloths)

1. A coarse hessian style of cloth used to make sacks.
2. (usually with “and ashes”, also figuratively) Garments worn as an act of penance.

   Synonyms: hairshirt, cilice

Translations

References

• John A. Simpson and Edward S. C. Weiner, editors (1989) , “sackcloth”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ?ISBN