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Etymology and origin of the Latin word mora

mora1 delay

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Inherited from
Proto-Italic *morH-ā-
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *morh₂-

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔ.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.ra][1]

Forms

mora f (genitive morae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The word for “delay” is inherited from Proto-Italic *morH-ā- (“delay”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *morh₂-.[2] Its vowel is a difficulty: if /o/ regularly became /a/ in an open syllable, ⟨mora⟩ cannot be the regular outcome, and de Vaan suggests the /o/ was restored from the verb moror (“to delay”), which may be an old iterative; alternatively, following Schrijver, the laryngeal closed the syllable in Proto-Italic.[2] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *merh₂- (“to crumble, crush”).[1]

Cognate with Old Irish maraid (“lasts, remains”),[2][3] perhaps mer (“senseless”), and Sanskrit मूर्त (mūrtá-, “congealed”);[2] de Vaan also lists Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “stupid, foolish”).[2] Lewis and Short and Köbler connected it instead with the root of memor “mindful”.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[2][5] for the time that passes before something happens: in the Amphitruo a character promises faxo hau quicquam sit morae, “I'll see to it there is no delay at all”.[3]

Semantic evolution

From the time lost before an event it came to mean an interval, the time something takes, the lapse of time, the putting off of an action, lingering in a place and duration.[3] The phrases moram facere “cause delay”, haud mora “there is no delay” and sine mora “at once” were common.[3] Cicero used it for a pause in speaking.[3]

It also meant whatever holds something up: a hindrance, a person who delays, a physical barrier or the stop on a tool.[3] Plautus jokes of a woman “born of Delay herself”, natast ex ipsa mora.[6] In law it was the technical term for a debtor's or creditor's delay in paying or accepting what was owed.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for delay, and personifies Delay.[3][6][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for an interval.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a pause in speaking.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil has haud mora, “without delay”.[3][5]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it for duration.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The time that passes before something happens, delay;[3][4] moram facere, to cause delay;[3][4] haud mora, there is no delay;[3][4] sine mora, at once.[3][4]
  2. An interval; a pause in speaking.[3]
  3. The time something takes.[3]
  4. The lapse of time.[3]
  5. The putting off of an action; tardiness.[3][1]
  6. Staying in one place, lingering.[3]
  7. Duration.[3]
  8. A hindrance, obstacle.[3][1]
  9. A person or thing that delays.[3]
  10. A physical barrier; a stop on a tool or blade.[3]
  11. (law) Delay in paying or accepting what is owed.[6]

Word family

  • moror
  • morula
  • morātiō
  • morātōrius
  • remora

mora2 division of the Spartan army

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 100–24 BC, Nepos
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek μόρα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek μόρα

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔ.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.ra][1]

Forms

mora f (genitive morae); first declension[3]

Etymology

The Spartan army division is borrowed from Ancient Greek μόρα (móra, “division of the Spartan army”).[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nepos uses it in his life of Iphicrates, who destroyed a Spartan mora.[6][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare Greek term for a main division of the Spartan army,[3] which Lewis and Short put at three, five or seven hundred men.[4] In Cicero's Tusculan Disputations the better reading is agmen, not mora.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it of a Spartan army division.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A main division of the Spartan army.[3][4][6]

Usage notes

Lewis and Short list a separate mora for the fish called echeneis in Pliny, where other editions read remora.[4] In Medieval Latin mora is also a form of muria “brine, pickle”,[7] and a form of morus “moor”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

Related etymologies

  • toga · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • flagro · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • minor · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • maior · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • medius · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • centum · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • specio · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • caedo · also from Proto-Indo-European
Cite this entry

“Mora.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mora. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·