Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexBell
I am preparing The Italian by Ann Radclife for the MR library. The name Santa Della Pieta occurs several times in the text I am using from the University of Adelaide ebook library, and in the Penguin and Oxford Classics editions. Sometimes, in all three sources, Pieta is spelled with an acute accent over the e, and sometimes with a grave accent over the a. Google translate suggests that the grave accent over the a is correct.
Which should I use? So far as I can tell Pieta means Pity, and I can't believe that the context could change the word's meaning to require a different form and different placement of the accent.
And I can't accept that I should use whatever is in the original text whether it's correct or not - especially as I can't find the original text anyway.
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Pietà has a grave accent on the “a”.
Columbia Encylopedia:
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In writing, accent is also used to show syllable stress as in Spanish María (acute accent) and Italian pietà (grave accent)
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Wiki
summarizes why:
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A general rule in Italian is that words that end with stressed -a must be marked with a grave accent. Words that end with stressed -e or -o may bear either an acute accent or a grave accent, depending on whether the final e or o sound is closed or open, respectively
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