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mordax

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word mordax

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂mord-(e)ie-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mordeo
Latin admordeo
Latin mordax

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔr.daːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔr.daks][1]

Forms

mordāx (genitive mordācis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] The comparative is found from Phaedrus on.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mordeō (“to bite”) + -āx (“inclined to”).[3][2][1] De Vaan traces mordeō to Proto-Italic *mord-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂mord-(e)ie- (“to crush, bite”), an iterative present.[4] Cognate with Sanskrit मृदित (mṛditá-, “crushed”), Ancient Greek ἀμέρδω (amérdō, “to deprive of”) and Old English smeortan (“to hurt”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[4][5] who has a biting dog, mordax canis.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is used of animals prone to bite: Labeo has a horse that bites, and Apuleius an ass.[6] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in prose.[6] Of things it is cutting or sharp, as Horace's biting axe; stinging, as Ovid's nettle; and sharp to the taste, as vinegar in Persius.[3] Of people and words it is biting or caustic: Horace asks whether he seems spiteful and biting.[3] Horace also has gnawing cares, mordācēs sollicitūdinēs.[3] Church Latin has it as stinging, piercing.[7] English mordacious (1640s) came from its stem.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a biting dog.[3][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of an axe, of a satirist and of cares.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of the nettle.[3][5]
  • 1640s – English mordacious.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Given to biting, snappish.[3][6][1]
  2. Cutting, sharp; stinging; pungent to the taste.[3][1]
  3. Of persons and words, biting, caustic;[3][1] of cares, gnawing.[3]

Word family

  • mordācitās

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Mordax.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mordax. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·