morsum

Forms

morsum n (genitive morsī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mordeō (“to bite”), the neuter of its perfect passive participle morsus (“bitten”) used as a noun.^[2][1][3] Mordeō goes back to Proto-Italic *mord-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂mord-(e)ie- (“to crush, bite”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its one Classical example is in Catullus,^[2][5] where bitten-off bits of wool cling to the lips of spinners: laneaque aridulis haerebant morsa labellis “and bits of wool stuck to their dry lips”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means a piece bitten off,^[2] and so a small bit or piece in general.^[3][1] Lewis and Short mark it as poetic.^[3]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus writes of bitten-off bits of wool.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece bitten off.^[2]
2. A small bit, a little piece.^[3][1]

Related words

• morsus
• mordeō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de