Etymologically
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mordeo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔr.de.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔr.de.o][1]

Forms

mordeō (present infinitive mordēre, perfect active momordī, supine morsum); second conjugation[1] The older perfect memordī is used by Ennius, Plautus and Cicero.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mord-eje-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂mord-(e)ie- (“to crush, bite”), an iterative present with o-grade, biting being a repeated action; the simple present of the root was lost in Latin.[3][1] Wiktionary gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”).[1]

Cognate with Sanskrit मर्दति (márdati, “crushes”),[1][2] Ancient Greek ἀμέρδω (amérdō, “to deprive”)[3][2] and Old English smeortan (“to hurt”), the source of English smart.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.[3] Ennius writes si me canis memorderit, “if a dog bites me”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant to bite, as dogs do, and to nibble or gnaw.[2][4] Things were said to bite when they cut into something, as fetters into the flesh, or ate it away, as Horace's quiet Liris eating at its fields.[2] A clasp “bit” the cloth it held, and cold or a strong spice could sting.[2]

Figuratively it meant to hurt or worry someone, and to carp at or criticize, as in Terence's “everyone envied me and bit at me in secret”.[2] It survives as Italian mordere, French mordre, and Spanish and Portuguese morder.[1] English morsel and remorse come from its participle.[5]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses the perfect memorderit.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3][6]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for hurting and for carping.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a river eating away fields and of the morning cold.[2][6]
  • late 13th century – English morsel comes from Old French, from morsum.[5]
  • late 14th century – English remorse comes from Medieval Latin remorsum, “a biting back”.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To bite.[2][4]
  2. To nibble, gnaw.[2][1]
  3. (of things) To cut into; to erode, eat away.[2][1]
  4. To grip, hold fast.[2]
  5. To sting, nip.[2][1]
  6. To hurt, distress, worry.[2][1]
  7. To criticize, carp at.[2]

Word family

  • admordeō
  • commordeō
  • dēmordeō
  • immordeō
  • mordāx
  • mordex
  • mordico
  • mordicus
  • mordōsus
  • morsicō
  • morsilis
  • morsum
  • English remorse
  • English morsel
  • English mordant

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de