mourir

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mu.ʁiʁ/^[1]

Forms

mourir^[1] Old French morir, also murir (late 10th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French morir, inherited from Latin morior (“to die”), whose classical infinitive “morī” had a variant “morīrī” in early and popular Latin (Plautus), which became “morīre” in Late Latin.^{[4][5][2][1][6]} Like mort, the verb comes from an Indo-European root “*mer-” “to die”, found also in Greek “ambrosios” “immortal” and in Germanic words for murder (German Mord, English murder).^[4][7] Besides “to cease living”, the Latin verb meant “to waste away”, “to die out” (of things) and, in Christian Latin, “to renounce”.^[4]

Cognate with Romanian muri, Italian morire, Occitan morir, Catalan morir, Spanish morir and Portuguese morrer.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie (881), in the reflexive se mourir “to die”: Por o's furet morte a grand honestet “for that she would have died with great honour”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Se mourir then meant “to be dying” (about 1170) and “to pine away” for love (about 1160) or grief (about 1165), and later, of things, “to fade” (1580, Montaigne).^[3][4] The intransitive mourir “to cease living” is found at the end of the 10th century, and about 1200 of a plant (l'erbe muert).^[3][4]

From the 12th century it also meant “to be at the point of death”, as in morir de fain (about 1165), and in courtly literature “to languish” of love or grief (1188).^[3][4] Hyperbolic uses appear in the 17th century: à mourir “to an extreme degree” (1671), and later mourir de rire.^[4][9] In the language of spirituality it means “to renounce” (morir al munde, 1200, mourir au péché, 1651).^[4] With an inanimate subject it is found from the 16th century.^[4] The infinitive is also a noun, le mourir (late 12th century).^[10]

Timeline

• 881 – Morte in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.^[3]
• Late 10th century – Intransitive murir in the Passion de Clermont.^[3]
• c. 1160 – Se mourir of love, in the Roman d'Eneas.^[3]
• c. 1165 – Morir de fain “to be starving”.^[3]
• c. 1200 – Said of a plant.^[3][4]
• 1580 – Of a thing, in Montaigne.^[3][4]
• 1604 – Meurt-de-faim.^[5]
• 1671 – À mourir “to an extreme degree”, in Mme de Sévigné.^[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To die, cease to live.^[7][1]
2. Of a plant or animal: to die.^[3][4]
3. To die out, fade, come to an end: Le jour meurt.^[4][3]
4. Mourir de: to be dying of (hunger, boredom): mourir de faim, mourir de rire.^[1][4]
5. À mourir: to an extreme degree: s'ennuyer à mourir.^[4][9]
6. (literary) Se mourir: to be dying.^[1][3]
7. (religion) Mourir à: to renounce: mourir au monde.^[4]

Noun

1. Le mourir: the act or process of dying.^[10][1]

Word family

• meurt-de-faim
• mourant
• mouroir

Related words

• mort
• mortel
• Latin morior

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 131b
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse