recantation (n.)

"to unsay, to contradict or withdraw a declaration or proposition," 1530s, from Latin recantare "recall, revoke," from re- "back" (see re-) + cantare, literally "to chant, to sing" (from PIE root *kan- "to sing"). The English word is from the Reformation; the Latin verb is a loan-translation of Greek palinoidein "recant," from palin "back" + oeidein "to sing." Related: Recanted; recanting. It was used occasionally 17c. in an etymological sense of "sing over again" (with re- = "again").