mors

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔrs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔrs]^[1]

Forms

mors f (genitive mortis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *morti- (“death”),^[2][1] from inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥-tí- (“death”),^[2][3] a noun formed from the root *mer- (“to die”), which also gave morior (“to die”) and mortuus (“dead”).^[1][4][2]

Cognate with Sanskrit मृति (mṛti-) and Lithuanian mirtis.^[5][6] Ancient Christian writers derived it from the bite (morsus) of the serpent that killed Adam, and Isidore of Seville from Mars, the bringer of death.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Naevius,^[2][3] and from early Latin on it means death, the act or fact of dying.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Besides the act of dying, the word meant death as a state,^[5] and death personified as a goddess, the daughter of Erebus and Night.^[5][7] By extension it was used for annihilation or extinction, for a corpse, and for a means or cause of death, including a person who brings death to others.^[5][7]

In the Vulgate the “second death” is the punishment of the damned,^[7] and Death can stand for the devil, who held the power of death.^[7] Medieval Latin used it for capital punishment, for manslaughter and for an epidemic or plague.^[8][3]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius is the first author to use it.^[2][3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls on Death as a friend.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero lists Death among the offspring of Erebus and Night.^[5][3]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it for the annihilation of things.^[5][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate speaks of the second death.^[7][3]
• Early Middle Ages – It is used for capital punishment and for plague.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. death, dying.^[5][7]
2. Death personified, a goddess.^[5][7]
3. Death as a state;^[5] in morte, when one is dead.^[5]
4. annihilation, extinction.^[5]
5. A dead body, corpse.^[5]
6. A means or cause of death; one who brings death.^[5][7]
7. (Medieval Latin) Capital punishment; manslaughter; plague.^[8]

Descendants

• Italian: morte^[1]
• Spanish: muerte^[1]
• Portuguese: morte^[1]
• Romanian: moarte^[1]
• Catalan: mort^[1]
• Occitan: mort^[1]
• Galician: morte^[1]
• Sardinian: molte, morte, morti^[1]
• Friulian: muart^[1]
• Dalmatian: muart^[1]
• Aromanian: moarti^[1]
• Old French: mort^[1]
  • Middle French: mort^[1]
    • French: mort^[1]
      • English: mort^[1]

Word family

• mortālis
• morticīnus
• mortiferus
• mortificō
• mortificus
• mortigena
• mortuosus

Related words

• morior
• mortuus
• English mortal
• English mortuary

Usage notes

Common phrases include mortem obire “to meet one's death”, morti dare “to put to death” and mortem sibi consciscere “to commit suicide”.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
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 g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill