Etymologically
Log in

merda

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 23 October 2026 at 15:10. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɛr.da][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛr.da][1]

Forms

merda f (genitive merdae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(s)merdā, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *smerd-h₂- (“stench”).[2][1] De Vaan takes it as a collective, “what stinks”, which came to mean “excrement”.[2] Pokorny calls the connection with Proto-Indo-European *smerd- (“to stink”) probable,[3] and Lewis & Short call the etymology doubtful.[4]

Cognate with Lithuanian smirdė́ti (“to stink”), Lithuanian smardas and Latvian smar̂ds (“smell, odour”).[2][5] It survives in Italian merda, French merde and Spanish mierda.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author to use it is Horace, Satires 1.8.37: mentior at sī quid, merdīs caput inquiner albīs corvōrum, “if I lie in anything, may my head be fouled with the white droppings of crows”.[2][6][7]

Semantic evolution

It is a coarse word for dung or excrement, often in the plural,[5][8][1] found in satire, Phaedrus and Martial,[8][9] in a Pompeian inscription,[8] and in Vegetius' veterinary work for cattle dung.[8] Medieval writers used it in the same sense and, in alchemy, figuratively.[10][11] The medieval etymologist Uguccione derived it from merum “pure”, by contrast, because it is not pure.[11]

Timeline

  • 65–8 BC – Horace writes of the white droppings of crows.[6][7]
  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses the plural.[8][7]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of what bad food becomes.[8][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar, often plural) dung, excrement.[5][4][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin, figurative) Filth, dross.[10]

Word family

  • merdaleus
  • English merde

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  10. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  11. ^ a b Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT