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moratus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word moratus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC Plautus More words from the 3rd century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin mos
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mōs
Latin mōrātus
From the same root
Latin mōrālis ← mōs
Latin mōrigerus ← mōs
Latin mōrōsus ← mōs

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [moːˈraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [moˈraː.tus][1]

Forms

mōrātus (feminine mōrāta, neuter mōrātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin mōs (“custom, manner”) + -ātus.[2][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the noun.[3] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *mōs- and, in de Vaan's view, to Proto-Indo-European *m(e)h₁-ōs (“manner”), from the root meaning “to measure”; he notes that other reconstructions are possible in theory.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[3][2] meaning “having a certain character”: in the prologue of the Aulularia a son is said to be pariter moratum ut pater avosque, “of the same character as his father and grandfather”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It was usually qualified: bene moratus “of good character”, male moratus “of bad character”.[2][4] In Plautus a woman dressed finely is so in vain si morata est male, “if her character is bad”.[4] Cicero speaks of a well-ordered state as bene morata et bene constituta.[2][5] It was also said of things: Plautus has a door of a certain nature, and Ovid an insatiable belly, male moratus venter.[4]

Alone it could mean “well-mannered, gentle”, as when Cicero calls a poem tenerum et moratum et molle.[2] In criticism it meant “true to character”: Horace's recte morata fabula is a play whose characters are well drawn,[4] and the commentator Porphyrio explains that one who shows upright conduct is called bene moratus.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of people of a given character.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of well-ordered states and of a gentle poem.[2][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a play with well-drawn characters.[4][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a multitude.[4][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid applies it to the belly.[4][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of style suited to character.[4][7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having character or manners of a specified kind (with bene, male and similar).[2][4]
  2. Well-mannered, gentle, civilized.[2]
  3. Of a literary work or style: true to character, characteristic.[4][1]

Usage notes

A separate mŏrātus, with a short o, is the perfect participle of moror “to delay”.[4][5] The TLL also has a rare mōrātus formed from mōrum “mulberry”, meaning “of mulberries”.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Moratus.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/moratus. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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