moral

moral¹ moral; morals

Etymology tree of moral¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin mōs

Latin mōrālis

French moral

Italian morale

Spanish moral

From the same root · moral¹

Latin mōrigerus ← mōs

Latin mōrālitās ← mōrālis

Pronunciation

• /moˈɾal/, [moˈɾal]^[1]

Forms

moral m or f (masculine and feminine plural morales)^[1]

Etymology

The word for “moral; morals” is inherited from Old Spanish moral, borrowed from Latin mōrālis (“relating to manners or morals”), a learned word.^[2][3][1][4] Cicero formed the Latin adjective from mōs (“custom, usage; way of life”) with the suffix -ālis, to translate Ancient Greek ἠθικός (ēthikós).^[5][6][1] Corominas gives “wish, whim” as the original sense of the Latin noun.^[2]

De Vaan reconstructs *mōs- and Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁-ōs (“manner”), and finds the meaning close enough to “measure” to connect it with *meh₁- (“to measure”);^[7][1] Wiktionary also mentions a root meaning “to be intent upon”.^[7][1] The same Latin adjective was borrowed as French moral, Italian morale and Portuguese moral.^[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alfonso X's General Estoria (c. 1275) already cites el libro de los morales de Job “the book of the Morals on Job”.^[10] The DEMel's first records of the word are in a Castilian Seneca, Ira, of 1284–1295, and in Don Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor (1330–1335).^[11] Corominas dates it about 1330.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija (c. 1495) rendered it as Latin moralis, “a thing of customs”, and Greek-derived ethicus.^[12] Autoridades defined the adjective as what belongs to good customs or to human actions considered as lawful or unlawful, and the noun as the discipline that studies them.^[13] By 1869 the Academy had added the sense “not perceived by the senses but judged by the mind or conscience”, as in a moral certainty; in 1884 it gave the etymology from Latin.^[14][15]

The modern dictionaries add the noun for the mood of a person or group and the confidence needed to face something, in English terms “morale”.^[3][1] Colloquial phrases include comer la moral a alguien “to wear down someone's confidence”, and the saying tener más moral que el Alcoyano “to be endlessly optimistic”.^[3][1] Andalusian and Murcian speech used a masculine noun for the gist or real sense of something.^[16][17]

Timeline

• 1284–1295 – first record of the word, in a Castilian Seneca.^[11]
• 1330–1335 – the adjective in Don Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor.^[11]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives the Latin equivalents moralis and ethicus.^[12]
• 1726–1739 – Autoridades has the adjective and the noun for moral philosophy.^[13]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology from Latin.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. moral: relating to people's actions considered as good or bad, in their individual and above all their social life.^[3][1]
2. Conforming to one's standards of good and evil; ethical: Lo que hizo no fue moral.^[3][1]
3. Based on the mind or conscience rather than the senses: certeza moral.^[3]
4. Belonging to conscience or respect for others rather than to the law: una obligación moral.^[3]

Noun

1. (feminine) morality, ethics: the doctrine that regulates individual and collective conduct with respect to good and evil.^[3][1][18]
2. (feminine) The faculties of the mind, as opposed to the physical.^[3]
3. (feminine) morale; the state of mind of a person or a group: Después de la derrota el equipo tenía la moral muy baja.^[3][1]
4. (feminine) The spirit to face something hard;^[3] (colloquial) confidence in success in a contest or a great effort.^[3]

Word family

• moraleja
• moralista
• moralizar
• moralmente
• moralismo
• amoral
• inmoral
• desmoralizar

moral² mulberry tree

Pronunciation

• /moˈɾal/, [moˈɾal]^[1]

Forms

moral m (plural morales)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the mulberry tree is formed from Spanish mora + -al, from the name of its fruit.^{[3][19][1][4]} The fruit's name continues *mōra, the neuter plural of the classical mōrum (“mulberry; blackberry”) taken as a feminine.^[20][21] Wiktionary takes the Latin word as probably borrowed from Ancient Greek μόρον (móron, “black mulberry, blackberry”), although its long vowel is unexpected.^[1][22]

Covarrubias (1611) and Autoridades explained the name instead by mora (“delay”), because the mulberry is the last tree to put out its leaves.^[23][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates the tree's name to 1070.^[19] The Fuero de Madrid (1158–1202) has morale in a Latin context, and charters of 1171 and 1181 have moralem and moral.^[11][10] The Fuero de Zorita (1218–c. 1250) has a clause on Tod aquel que foia de ageno moral cogiere “anyone who picks leaves from another man's mulberry”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Early texts protect the tree and use it in medicine: the Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235) sets the same fine for cutting an elm, a willow, a mulberry or a pruned holm oak, and the Moamín (1250) prescribes a decoction of its roots.^[10][24] It is common in place names such as Moral de la Reina and Morales.^[10] Mulberry trees are recorded in Puebla and Mexico City from 1540.^[25] Autoridades notes that its leaves feed silkworms.^[13]

The DLE also gives the name to a tropical tree of Ecuador with rot-proof timber.^[3] In Colombia it names the palo amarillo, and in Puerto Rico a tree with large rough leaves and sticky fruit.^[26][27]

Timeline

• 1070 – first record of the tree's name.^[19][12]
• 1158–1202 – the Fuero de Madrid has the form morale.^[11]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita protects the leaves of the mulberry.^[10]
• 1250 – the Moamín prescribes a decoction of its roots.^[24]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin morus.^[28]
• 1540 – mulberry trees in Puebla and Mexico City.^[25]
• 1611 – Covarrubias derives the name from the Latin word for “delay”.^[23]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives it from mora.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. The black mulberry tree (Morus nigra), native to Asia, with rough heart-shaped leaves; its fruit is the mora.^[3][18][1]
2. (Ecuador) A tropical tree of the mulberry family whose rot-proof wood is used to build houses.^[3]
3. (Colombia) The tree also called palo amarillo (Chlorophora tinctoria).^[26]
4. (Puerto Rico) A tree of the genus Cordia with large rough leaves and poor timber.^[26][27]