Etymologically
Log in

morbus

This is an old revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 19:36. It may differ significantly from the current version. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Current version Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔr.bʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔr.bus][1]

Forms

morbus m (genitive morbī); second declension[1] Church Latin also has a neuter morbum.[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[3][4][1] De Vaan rules out an adjective in ⟨*-idho-⟩ like acerbus, since that would have given ⟨*moridus⟩, and suggests the suffix *-bʰo- of adjectives of appearance (as in albus): ⟨morbus⟩ would be “looking like death”, from the root of mors and morior, Proto-Indo-European *mer- (“to die”), though such a formation would be odd.[3] Alternatively it might belong to the root of the words for “bramble”, such as Ancient Greek μόρον (móron, “black mulberry”).[3] Pokorny connected Ancient Greek μαραίνω (maraínō, “to wither”), and the TLL and Lewis and Short also compare ⟨morior⟩.[1][5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Twelve Tables have sī morbus aevitāsve vitium escit, “if illness or age is an impediment”.[4][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Morbus is disease, illness, sickness of body or mind.[4][6][1] It is used loosely of other afflictions (Plautus calls lack of money a grave disease that has attacked a man) and of moral weaknesses, “failing, vice” (Catullus: hunc habet morbum, “this is his failing”, of a man who grins at everything).[4] Wiktionary also gives “grief, distress” and “death”.[1] Döderlein says aeger covers every kind of illness or unease, while aegrōtus and morbidus refer to bodily illness.[8]

Church Latin glosses it “disease, sickness, illness, fault”.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – Twelve Tables: sī morbus aevitāsve vitium escit.[4][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: eum morbus invāsit gravis, of lack of money.[4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of a man who shared Verres' morbus et cupiditās.[4][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus: hunc habet morbum.[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. disease, illness, sickness.[4][6][1][2]
  2. An affliction, trouble.[4]
  3. A failing, vice.[4][1][2]
  4. Grief, distress.[1]

Word family

  • morbidus
  • morbifer
  • morbificō
  • morbōsus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper