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morgue

Etymology and origin of the French word morgue

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Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
mid-15th century, Jacques du Clercq
Ultimate origin
Vulgar Latin (*murricō)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɔʁɡ/[1]

Forms

morgue f (plural morgues)[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from the verb morguer “to treat with arrogance”, used from the 15th to the 18th century, although the noun is recorded first.[2][3][4] The verb was borrowed from the Occitan dialects of the south, where it still lives in Provençal and Languedocian, and was probably brought north by southern mercenaries at the end of the Hundred Years' War.[3][4] It goes back to a type Vulgar Latin *murricō, which must have meant “to pout”, derived from *murrum (“muzzle, snout”).[4][3][5] Littré thought the origin unknown, but quoted Languedocian Occitan morga (“muzzle”) as possibly the same word.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the memoirs of Jacques du Clercq in the mid-15th century, has the general sense “look, countenance”.[2][7] It appeared in phrases such as tenir morgue and faire bonne morgue “to put on a good face”;[3][6] Rabelais describes Jupiter making une morgue tant espouvantable that all Olympus shook.[6]

Semantic evolution

The modern pejorative sense, a haughty and disdainful bearing, is found in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538, through the phrase bonne morgue “a proud, assured look”.[2][3]

From 1526 or 1532 morgue named the place at the entrance of a prison where the gaolers examined new prisoners before locking them up;[3] Rey explains the shift by the way the warders stared newcomers up and down with arrogance and contempt, and Ménage already took the word to mean “face”.[3][8][6] In the 17th century it passed to the place where the bodies of unknown dead were laid out to be identified (1674, or 1694 according to Bloch and Wartburg), the Paris Morgue, since replaced by the Institut médico-légal.[3][4][7] The hospital room where the dead lie before burial is a later extension, recorded from 1943.[3]

English took morgue in 1821 from the name of the Paris building where bodies were exposed for identification.[9]

Timeline

  • mid-15th century – Morgue “look, countenance” appears in Jacques du Clercq.[2]
  • 1526 – Used for the room where new prisoners were examined.[8][4]
  • 1538 – Robert Estienne records the sense “haughty bearing”.[2][7]
  • 1575 – The verb morguer is recorded.[3]
  • 1674 – Used for the place where unknown bodies are laid out.[3]
  • 1831 – Morgueur, the employee of a morgue, is recorded.[3][2]
  • 1943 – Used for a hospital mortuary.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (literary) A haughty, disdainful bearing; arrogance.[10][11]
  2. A mortuary where unidentified bodies are kept to be identified or examined; the Paris Institut médico-légal.[10][11]
  3. A room in a hospital or clinic where the dead are kept until burial.[10][11]
  4. (historical) The room at a prison entrance where new prisoners were examined.[7][2]
  • morguer
  • morgueur
  • moraille
  • English morgue

Usage notes

A separate technical word morgue, the mouth of the bag of certain fishing nets (recorded by Littré in 1868), is of uncertain origin, perhaps a southern word from Latin manica (“sleeve”).[7][11]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 239a
  6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Morgue.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/morgue. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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