Etymologically
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mortuus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmɔr.tu.ʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɔr.tu.us][1]

Forms

mortuus (feminine mortua, neuter mortuum); first/second-declension participle[1]

Etymology

It is the participle of morior “to die”, inherited from Proto-Italic *mortwo- (“dead”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥-wo- (“dead”).[2][3] De Vaan dates the change of *mr̥two- to *mr̥tuwo- to Proto-Italic, judging by Venetic murtuvoi (“dead (dative)”), and suggests the ending *-wo- was taken over from *mr̥wo- “dead”, as in Celtic.[2] Cognate with Old Irish marb (“dead”), Sanskrit मृत (mṛtá, “dead”), Ancient Greek βροτός (brotós, “mortal”) and Old Church Slavonic мрьтвъ (mĭrtvŭ, “dead”).[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL find it first in Naevius,[2][4] and Köbler finds the noun in the Twelve Tables.[5] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant dead, deprived of life, and figuratively limp and insensible, motionless (of the eyes), no longer existing, and naturally lifeless, as a picture is a dead thing.[3] As a noun it was a dead person or a corpse.[1] It may also have described goods that yield no revenue.[3]

Isidore noted that grammarians were unsure what part of speech mortuus was.[6] Medieval Latin used the phrase mortua manus.[7] It survives in Italian morto, French mort and Spanish muerto.[1][4]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use mortuus “a dead man”.[5]
  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the word.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero describes a man fainting as if dead.[3][5]
  • Middle Ages – The phrase mortua manus is used.[7]

Meanings

Participle

  1. dead.[3]
  2. Limp, insensible, overwhelmed.[3][1]
  3. Motionless, fixed.[3]
  4. No longer existing, over and done with.[3]
  5. Lifeless, inanimate.[3]

Noun

  1. A dead person; a corpse.[1]

Word family

  • sēmimortuus

Usage notes

Isidore reports that the grammarians could not decide from what part of speech mortuus was formed.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill