mea culpa

English

Etymology

From the Latin phrase meā culpā (“through my fault”), ablative case of mea (“my”) culpa (“fault, guilt”), taken from the Confiteor, a traditional penitential prayer in Western Christianity.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʊl.pə/, /ˌmeɪ.əˈkʌl.pə/, /ˌmiː.əˈkʊl.pə/, /ˌmiː.əˈkʌl.pə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Interjection

mea culpa

1. My fault, due to my error; I am to blame.

   Synonyms: my bad, peccavi

Related terms

• mea maxima culpa

See also

• stand corrected

Noun

mea culpa (plural mea culpas or mea culpae)

1. An instance of mea culpa; an apology.

   Synonym: peccavi

   • 1692, The Ingenious and Diverting Letters of the Lady ⸺ Travels into Spain: […], 2nd edition, London: […] Samuel Crouch […], page 62:

     For Example, when St. Anthony ſaid his Confiteor, which he did often enough, all the Spectators fell down on their Knees, and gave themſelves ſuch rude Mea Culpa’s as was enough to beat the breath out of their Bodies.

   • 2018 January 13, Tad Bartimus, “When There’s Nuke Headed Your Way, ‘Do What You Gotta Do’”, in Civil Beat:

     Basketball had been replaced by breathless commentators cross-talking and speculating, politicians on split screens eagerly interrupting each other to find scapegoats, and most mute (male) state officials, including Hawaii Gov. David Ige, opening their mouths to sputter (paraphrasing here) — golly gee, we don’t know what happened, but we plan to find out — mea culpas.

   • 2021 September 1, Michael D. Shear, Jim Tankersley, “Biden Defends Afghan Pullout and Declares an End to Nation-Building”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     The president refused to offer any sort of mea culpa on Tuesday, even as the Taliban celebrated their “independence” from America with gunfire in the streets of Kabul.

   • 2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in The Guardian‎^[2], →ISSN:

     At her trial, lawyers convinced Manning to issue a mea culpa: […]

Translations

my fault, due to my error

• Armenian: մեղա (hy) (meġa)
• Catalan: mea culpa f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 是我的错 (shì wǒ de cuò)

• Czech: moje chyba (cs), moje vina
• Dutch: mijn schuld
• Esperanto: mia kulpo
• Finnish: mea culpa, minun vikani
• French: mea culpa (fr)
• Georgian: ჩემი ბრალია (čemi bralia)
• German: mea culpa (de), meine Schuld, Asche auf mein Haupt
• Greek: ήμαρτον (el) (ímarton)
• Hebrew: טעות שלי
• Hindi: मेरी ग़लती (merī ġaltī), मेरी ग़लती है (merī ġaltī hai)
• Ido: mea kulpo
• Italian: colpa mia
• Korean: 내 탓 (nae tat), 내 탓이오 (nae tasio)
• Malayalam: എന്റെ പിഴ (enṟe piḻa)
• Portuguese: minha culpa
• Punjabi: ਮੇਰੀ ਗ਼ਲਤੀ (merī ġaltī), ਮੇਰੀ ਗ਼ਲਤੀ ਹੈ (merī ġaltī hai)
• Russian: моя́ вина (mojá vina)
• Serbo-Croatian: moja greška
• Spanish: culpa mía, mi culpa
• Turkish: benim hatam
• Volapük: döbot obik
• West Frisian: myn skuld

Verb

mea culpa (third-person singular simple present mea culpa's, present participle mea culpa'ing, simple past and past participle mea culpa'ed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To apologize for something, especially excessively.
   • 2013 November, Stephen Hunter, The Third Bullet: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel (Bob Lee Swagger; 8), New York, NY: Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 423–424:

     When it was over and he grew tired of not being invited to the good parties on the Vineyard, he mea culpa’ed his way back into the good graces of the liberals who’d abandoned old LBJ years earlier.

French

Etymology

From the Latin phrase meā culpā (“through my fault”), from mea (“my, mine”) and culpa (“fault”) in the ablative.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /me.a kul.pa/

• Audio

  (file)

Interjection

mea culpa

1. mea culpa

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.aː ˈkul.paː/, [ˈmeäː ˈkʊɫ̪päː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.a ˈkul.pa/, [ˈmɛːä ˈkulpä]

Phrase

meā culpā

1. through my fault
   • (Can we date this quote?), Text of the Tridentine Mass:

     Confiteor Deo omnipotenti, beatæ Mariæ semper Virgini, beato Michaeli Archangelo, beato Ioanni Baptistæ, sanctis Apostolis Petro et Paulo, omnibus Sanctis, et vobis, fratres: quia peccavi nimis cogitatione, verbo et opere: mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

     I confess to the Almighty God, to the blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, to all the Saints, and to you brethren, that I have sinned exceedingly, in thought, word, and deed: through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

Polish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin meā culpā.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.a ˈkul.pa/
• Rhymes: -ulpa

Phrase

mea culpa

1. mea culpa

Further reading

• mea culpa in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• mea culpa in Polish dictionaries at PWN