mors

Forms

mors m (invariable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin morsus (“a bite”), the verbal noun of mordeō (“to bite”), the source of mordre.^[2][3][4][5] The word morceau is a diminutive of it.^[2][3]

Cognate with Italian morso and Old Occitan mors (“bite”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120 in the Voyage de saint Brendan, meaning a bite, the act of biting.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As the action noun of mordre, mors meant “bite” into the 16th century (the TLFi has it until Monet in 1636), and it also meant a morsel, a mouthful bitten off (1176), a sense now kept only by its derivative morceau.^[2][3][4] The derivative morsure (1213) then took over the sense “bite”.^[3][4]

From the idea of something that bites or holds, mors named technical objects: the clasp that held a cope on the breast (about 1160), and above all the bar of the bridle in a horse's mouth (1370).^[2][3][4] From it came prendre le mors aux dents (1547), said of a horse, and figuratively, from 1694, to set to work with energy;^[3][2] Old French already said prendre le frein as dents with the same idea.^[3][2] The jaws of a vice (mords d'étau, 1680) and the joint of a bookbinding (1765) followed, and mors du diable named the scabious (1573).^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – “Bite” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2]
• c. 1160 – The clasp of a cope, in the Roman d'Énéas.^[2][3]
• 1176 – “Morsel” in Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès.^[2]
• 1370 – The bit of a bridle.^[2][3][7]
• 1547 – Prendre son mors aux dents, of a horse, in Mellin de Saint-Gelais.^[2]
• 1573 – Mors du diable “scabious”.^[3][7]
• 1680 – Mords d'étau in Richelet.^[2][7]
• 1694 – The Académie records the figurative prendre le mors aux dents.^[2][3]
• 1765 – The bookbinding sense in the Encyclopédie.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bit of a bridle, the bar in a horse's mouth used to guide it.^[8][9]
2. Prendre le mors aux dents: of a horse, to bolt; figuratively, to fly into a temper, or to set to work suddenly and with energy.^[8][3]
3. Each of the jaws of a vice, pincers or a clamp.^[8][9]
4. (bookbinding) The groove near the spine of a volume that takes the board of the cover, and the edge of the board that fits in it.^[8][2]
5. Mors du diable: the devil's-bit scabious.^[7][3]

Word family

• morsure

Related words

• mordre
• morceau
• Latin morsus

Usage notes

Mors is pronounced like its homophones maure and mort¹.^[8] The spelling mords was once used in the technical senses, recalling mordre.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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 n o p q 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, 143b
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)