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commoror

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word commoror

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (mora)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin moror
Latin remoror
Latin commoror

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔm.mɔ.rɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔm.mo.ror][1]

Forms

commoror (present infinitive commorārī, perfect active commorātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] Priscian records an active commorō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + moror (“to delay”).[4][1][3] De Vaan takes moror either as a verb made from mora (“delay”) or as an old iterative; the noun goes back to Proto-Italic *morā and Proto-Indo-European *morh₂-.[5] Cognate with Old Irish maraid (“lasts, remains”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] whose Amphitruo has it transitively: “has an omen delayed you?”[4]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to detain or delay, but it is mostly intransitive: to stay or remain somewhere, as in Terence's “why did you stay there so long?”, to wait or be inactive, and to continue in a state, as Cicero's staying under arms in the civil war.[4][2] In rhetoric it is to dwell on a point, as in Cicero's Orator.[4] Church Latin glosses it “tarry, stay, abide, dwell”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of being delayed by an omen.[4][5][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of staying somewhere.[4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of dwelling on a point.[4][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of delayed menstruation.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To detain, delay.[4][1]
  2. To stay, remain, linger; to wait, be inactive.[4][2][1]
  3. To continue in a state or condition.[4]
  4. (rhetoric) To dwell on a point.[4][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Commoror.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/commoror. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·