morgue

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɔːɡ/ (UK); /moɹɡ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French Morgue,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the name of a building in Paris where bodies of people found dead were displayed for identification.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Earlier it was the place where new prisoners were shown to the keepers so that they could be identified.^[3][4] The name probably comes from French morgue “haughtiness”, originally “solemn look”,^[2][3][4] from Old French morguer (“to look at solemnly”), from Vulgar Latin *murricāre (“to make a face”), from *murrum “muzzle, snout”.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Paris building where bodies were exposed for identification; hence any mortuary (1821).^[7][3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word morgue “haughty demeanour” had been borrowed into English in 1599.^[7] The place name became a general word for a mortuary in the 19th century.^[7][4] In journalism slang, morgue meant the collection of obituaries of living people kept ready by a newspaper (1903),^[7] and then the whole library of clippings and reference material (1918).^[7][5]

Timeline

• 1599 – morgue, a haughty demeanour.^[7]
• 1821 – a mortuary.^[7][3][4][5]
• 1903 – a newspaper's file of ready-made obituaries.^[7]
• 1918 – a newspaper's reference library.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A place where the bodies of dead people are kept until they are identified and claimed, or until burial or autopsy; a mortuary.
2. A reference file or library of clippings and other material in a newspaper or magazine office.

Related words

• mortuary
• muzzle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press