μορμύρω

Forms

μορμύρω (mormúrō), with a long ῡ; only the present stem is found.^[1][2] Hesychius has a variant μυρμύρω (murmúrō).^[2]

Etymology

It is an onomatopoeic verb with intensive reduplication.^[2][3][1] Πάπυρος explains the o of the first syllable as a dissimilation of u and the ending as the present suffix *-yo-.^[4] Similar imitative formations are Latin murmurō (“to murmur”), Lithuanian murmė́ti (“to grumble, murmur”) and Old High German murmurōn (“to murmur”).^[2][3][5] Beekes also compares μύρομαι (múromai, “to flow, weep”).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Iliad it is used of water flowing with a roar: a river is seen ἀφρῷ μορμύροντα, “roaring with foam”, and the stream of Ocean too.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

It remained a poetic word for rushing, foaming water: Apollonius of Rhodes uses it, and Dionysius Periegetes has the middle in the same sense; it reaches prose only late, in Aelian.^[1][2] Manetho uses it figuratively, of a heart seething with anger.^[1] Homer also has the compound ἀναμορμύρω (anamormúrō), and there is ἐπιμορμύρω (epimormúrō).^[2][6] In medieval and modern Greek it came to mean “to murmur” in general.^[4]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad uses it of a river and of Ocean roaring with foam.^[1][6]
• 3rd century BC – Apollonius of Rhodes uses it in the Argonautica.^[1][7][8]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Dionysius Periegetes uses the middle with the same sense.^[1][8]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – Aelian uses it in prose.^[1][8]
• 4th century AD – Manetho uses it of anger seething in the heart.^[1][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. Of water, to roar and boil, rush with a noise, foam.^[1][6][2]
2. (figurative) To seethe with anger.^[1]

Word family

• ἀναμορμύρω (anamormúrō)
• ἐπιμορμύρω (epimormúrō)

Related words

• μύρομαι (múromai)
• Latin murmurō
• Latin murmur

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
4. ^ a b Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
5. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
6. ^ a b c d Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
7. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
8. ^ a b c d Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge