moro

moro¹ Moor; dark-haired

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɔ.ro/^[1]

Forms

moro (feminine mora, masculine plural mori, feminine plural more)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the Moor is inherited from Latin Maurus (“inhabitant of Mauretania”).^[2][3][4][1] Latin took the name from Ancient Greek Μαῦρος (Maûros), which GRADIT and Nocentini connect with the Greek adjective for “dark, brown”.^[4][3][1] DELI gives the Greek adjective as ἀμαυρός (amaurós, “dark”), of unknown origin, a word used of ghosts that are hard to make out and of darkness in general;^[2][3] Italian amaurosi comes from the same Greek word.^[2][3]

The same name is Spanish moro and Portuguese mouro, and the Basque form is mairu.^[3][5] Old French morel (modern French moreau) comes from a diminutive Vulgar Latin *maurellus.^[3] DEI thinks the word spread through the French Carolingian epics, and compares Old French more, the source of the English word Moor.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Florentine translation of the Tesoro, late in the 13th century, where the word names an inhabitant of the Roman province of Mauretania.^[7] DELI dates “of Mauretania, Ethiopia, Africa” to Masuccio Salernitano, before 1476.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old Italian the plural Mori mostly named the Muslims of North Africa and, after the conquest, of Spain, as warriors set against the Christians.^[7] Luca Pulci uses moro for “Saracen, Muslim” before 1470, and Ariosto sings of the time “when the Moors crossed the African sea” (al tempo che passaro i Mori / d'Africa il mar).^[2][8][9] In 1605 the sense was extended to anyone dark of skin and hair.^[2]

The derivatives are all Italian formations.^[2] Morello “blackish” named a dark horse before 1310 and a coat colour in Boccaccio, moretto a black boy in Aretino (1542), and moretta a black-and-white diving duck; moresco “Moorish” follows Spanish morisco.^[2][3] Shakespeare's Othello is il Moro di Venezia in Italian.^[9] Modern Italian also uses moro for a strong dark pipe tobacco, arancio moro for a Sicilian blood orange, and testa di moro for a warm dark brown.^[10][11]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Florentine Tesoro uses moro for an inhabitant of Mauretania.^[7]
• Before 1310 – Morello is recorded for a dark horse.^[2]
• 1339–1340 – Boccaccio uses morello for a coat colour.^[2]
• Before 1455 – Ghiberti uses moresco.^[2]
• Before 1470 – Luca Pulci uses moro for “Saracen, Muslim”.^[2]
• Before 1476 – Masuccio Salernitano uses it for “African”.^[2]
• 1542 – Aretino uses moretto.^[2]
• 1605 – Allegri uses the sense “dark of skin and hair”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A Moor: an inhabitant of Mauretania, later of other parts of Africa, and especially one of the Muslims who conquered Spain in the 8th century.^[4][12][13]
2. (dated) A black person.^[12][13][1]
3. A person with dark hair and a dark complexion: Mia cugina è una mora dagli occhi chiari.^[4][12][10]
4. A strong dark pipe tobacco.^[4][12][10]

Adjective

1. (historical) Moorish, of the Moors.^[4][12]
2. Dark-haired or dark-skinned; of hair, dark: capelli mori.^[4][12][1]
3. Of animals, with a dark coat: cavallo moro.^[4][10][13]
4. (agriculture) In arancio moro, a blood orange grown in eastern Sicily.^[10][11]
5. In testa di moro, a warm dark brown.^[10][11]

Word family

• morello
• moresco
• moresca
• moretto
• moretta
• morellino
• morettino

moro² mulberry tree

Pronunciation

• /ˈmɔ.ro/^[1]

Forms

moro m (plural mori)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the mulberry tree is inherited from Latin mōrus (“black mulberry tree”), beside mōrum (“mulberry”).^{[2][3][4][1][14]} The tree name lives on in Romanian mur as well as Italian.^[3][5][15]

Wiktionary derives the Latin word from Ancient Greek μόρον (móron, “mulberry”).^[1] Nocentini and DELI see rather a pre-Indo-European word: the Latin pair matches the Greek one and an Armenian word for the blackberry because of a shared Mediterranean substrate, not a common inheritance.^[3][2][15] Germanic borrowed it early, in Old High German mūrberi, modern German Maulbeere, and in the source of the English word mulberry.^[3][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is the Sienese Fatti di Cesare, late in the 13th century, with the sense “mulberry tree”, the same as gelso; it also appears in retellings of the story of Pyramus and Thisbe.^[7] DELI dates it to Zucchero Bencivenni, 1310.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Moro remained a name for the gelso, with moro bianco and moro nero for the white and black mulberries.^[9][4] Körting explained gelso, the popular word, as cut from morogelso, from a Latin phrase morus celsa.^[16] Tommaseo describes the tree as the one whose leaves feed silkworms.^[17] In botany Moro is the genus Morus, which gave its name to the family of the moracee (1895).^[4][2]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – The Fatti di Cesare uses moro for the mulberry tree.^[7]
• 1310 – Zucchero Bencivenni uses the word.^[2]
• 1895 – Moracee is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The mulberry tree, the same as gelso.^{[4][12][8][9]}
2. (botany) Moro, the genus Morus of the family Moraceae, which includes the white and the black mulberry.^[4]

Word family

• moracea