morior

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔ.ri.ɔr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔː.ri.or]^[1]

Forms

morior (present infinitive morī or morīrī, perfect active mortuus sum); third (-iō variant) / fourth conjugation, deponent, no passive^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *morje- (“to die”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥-ie/o- (“to die”), from the root *mer-.^[2][1] Cognate with Venetic murtuvoi (“dead”), Old Irish marb (“dead”), Welsh marw (“dead”), Hittite mer- (“to disappear”) and Lithuanian mir̃ti (“to die”).^[2][3] The participle mortuus goes back to a Proto-Italic *mortwo-, perhaps influenced by the form *mr̥wo- seen in Celtic.^[2] The wavering between third- and fourth-conjugation forms is found in other verbs in -r, such as orior.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from the Twelve Tables.^[2] Plautus, Ennius and Terence also have it, with fourth-conjugation forms such as morīrī and morīmur.^[2][3] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables c. 450 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to die, with the cause or circumstances expressed, as in Naevius' “you will not escape dying by my hand”, and colloquially moriar sī “may I die if”.^[3] By exaggeration it meant to faint or languish with love, and it was used of plants dying, of things decaying, of fires and daylight going out, of laws and words falling into disuse, and of things being forgotten.^[3]

Related words include mors “death”, mortālis “mortal” and immortālis.^[1] English mortal comes from mortālis through Old French, and English mortuary from mortuus.^[5] The verb survives in Italian morire, Spanish morir and Romanian muri.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – the Twelve Tables use it.^[2][4]
• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius has “you will not escape dying by my hand”.^[3][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius has sī vīvimus sīve morīmur.^[3][4]
• late 14th century – English mortal is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To die, moriar sī, may I die if.^[3]
2. To faint, languish (with love).^[3]
3. (of plants) To die, wither.^[3]
4. To perish, decay, (of fire, light) to go out.^[3]
5. To cease to exist, (of words) to fall into disuse.^[3]
6. To be forgotten.^[3]

Word family

• commorior
• dēmorior
• ēmorior
• immorior
• inēmorior
• intermorior
• moribundus
• mortuus
• permorior
• praemorior
• superēmorior

Related words

• immortālis
• mors
• mortālis
• mortālitās
• mortifer
• English mortal
• English mortuary

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com