murex

Forms

murex m (invariable)^[1] Old French murique (about 1265).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mūrex (“murex, purple”).^[2][5][6] The word was borrowed twice: first from the Latin accusative as Old French murique, then in 1505 from the nominative.^[2][3][4] Rey thinks the Latin word probably Mediterranean;^[3] Ernout and Meillet related it to a Greek word for the mussel, a view Chantraine rejected.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brunetto Latini's Trésor has the form murique about 1265.^[2][3] The form murex is first found in 1505, in the French translation of Platina by Desdier Christol, which has le murex ou murice.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Latin the word named the shellfish that yields purple dye, by metonymy the purple itself, and by likeness of shape pointed objects such as jagged rocks, spiked bits and caltrops.^[3] French kept only the mollusc from which the ancients drew their purple.^[3][7]

Timeline

• c. 1265 – Murique in Brunetto Latini's Trésor.^[2]
• 1505 – Murex in the French Platina.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gastropod mollusc of warm and temperate seas, with a thick shell covered in spines, from which the ancients obtained purple dye; also called rocher.^[2][7][8]

Related words

• Latin mūrex

Usage notes

Murex is invariable in the plural.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)