Etymologically
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morus

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morus1 foolish

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmoː.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.rus][1]

Forms

mōrus (feminine mōra, neuter mōrum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

The adjective “foolish” is borrowed from Ancient Greek μωρός (mōrós, “foolish”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found in Plautus, in the Trinummus and the Menaechmi,[4][5] meaning foolish or silly.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a word of Plautus' comedy.[3] In the Trinummus love is said to make people's ways moros et morosos, foolish and peevish,[3] and it was used as a noun, morus “a fool” and mora “a foolish woman”.[3][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as an adjective and as a noun for a fool.[3][6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Foolish, silly.[2][3]

Noun

  1. A fool;[3][6] (feminine) a foolish woman.[3][6]

morus2 black mulberry tree

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmoː.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.rus][1]

Forms

mōrus f (genitive mōrī); second declension[1]

Etymology

The tree is from Latin mōrum (“mulberry”),[2][6][1] which the TLL compares with mālus2 (“apple tree”) and mālum2 (“apple”).[7] Lewis and Short and Georges equate it with Ancient Greek μορέα (moréā, “mulberry tree”), and Wiktionary allows a borrowing from the Greek as an alternative.[3][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ovid has it in the Metamorphoses:[4][5] arbor ibi, niveis uberrima pomis, ardua morus erat, “there stood a tree, a tall mulberry heavy with snow-white fruit”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder uses it for the black mulberry,[2][6] the tree whose fruit is the mōrum.[2] Isidore of Seville says that it is called morus by the Greeks and rubus by the Latins.[7] It is the source of Italian moro and Romanian mur.[7]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of a tall mulberry with white fruit.[3][4][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for the mulberry tree.[6][4][5]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name.[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The black mulberry tree, Morus nigra.[2][3][8]
  • mōriō

Usage notes

In Medieval Latin morus (also mora) is a separate word for a moor or marsh, of Germanic origin.[9][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill