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meurtre

Etymology and origin of the French word meurtre

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
c. 1090 (murtre)
Ultimate origin
Frankish (*murþrjan)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mœʁtʁ/[1]

Forms

meurtre m (plural meurtres)[1] Old French murtre, mordre, murdre, also with ⟨l⟩ forms, meurtre from the 13th century (Adenet, 1273) and usual from the 14th.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from Old French murtrir (“to murder”) (modern meurtrir),[4][5][2][6] which Bloch and Wartburg derive from Frankish *murþrjan (“to murder”); compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 (maurþr, “murder”) and Old High German mord (“murder”).[3][7][8] The word passed from Frankish into Romance at different times, so that the Germanic dental fricative, which became a ⟨d⟩ after ⟨r⟩ in Frankish, came in with two pronunciations, whence the Old French doublets murtre and mordre.[3] The spellings with ⟨eu⟩ are remakings of the 14th century.[3]

Wiktionary instead derives the noun directly from Frankish *murþar (“murder”), from Proto-Germanic *murþrą, and compares Medieval Latin murdrum.[1] Related Germanic words are English murder and German Mord.[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears about 1090 as murtre, and about 1130 in the Laws of William the Conqueror as murdre for homicide, the fine for a Frenchman killed: sin rendrunt le murtre quarant sept mars.[3][5][4][9]

Semantic evolution

Old French law distinguished it as killing by ambush: Beaumanoir defines murdres as killing someone by premeditated ambush between sunset and sunrise.[9] Its derivative meurtrier (murtrier in the 12th century) gave meurtrière “loophole” (1573), earlier archière.[3]

By exaggeration c'est un meurtre is said of a regrettable thing (Quinault, 1665), and crier au meurtre is “to cry murder” (before 1613, Régnier).[2] Meyer-Lübke files meurtrir in its sense “to bruise” under a different etymon.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1090 – Murtre.[3][5]
  • c. 1130 – Murdre, Laws of William the Conqueror.[4]
  • 1273 – The form meurtre, Adenet.[2]
  • 1530 – Meurtre in Palsgrave.[4]
  • 1573 – Meurtrière “loophole”.[3]
  • 1665 – “A regrettable thing”, Quinault.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. murder: the deliberate killing of a human being, tentative de meurtre, attempted murder; compare assassinat, murder with premeditation.[6][1]
  2. (figurative, familiar) A great pity, a crime: ce serait un meurtre de….[2]

Word family

  • meurtrier
  • meurtrière

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 316b
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
Cite this entry

“Meurtre.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/meurtre. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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