mucor

Forms

mūcor m (genitive mūcōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mūceō (“to be mouldy”) + -or.^[2][1][3] The verb is derived from mūcus (“mucus, snot”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *(s)me/ouk-o- (“snot”), though he notes that it may instead belong with words for “moist”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Columella,^[5] who says a store room must be very cold and dry ne situ penora mucorem contrahant, “so that the provisions do not grow mouldy from neglect”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant mould or mustiness in bread, stored food, wine and vinegar,^[2][6][7] and Pliny the Elder uses it for a slimy moisture that runs from vines and does them great harm.^[2][6] In the Digest the risk of sourness and mustiness in wine sold falls on the seller.^[2]

In medieval Latin it kept the sense of mould: Hugutio distinguishes mūcus, properly the mould of bread, from mūcor, that of wine or water,^[8] and an English synod of 1239 orders care lest the Eucharist grow damp or mouldy.^[9] It survives in Spanish mugre, Romanian mucoare and Italian and Sardinian dialect forms,^[3][1] and English and French borrowed it as mucor.^[1]

Timeline

• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of mould in stored provisions.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a harmful moisture from vines.^[2][6][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian, in the Digest, uses it of mustiness in wine.^[2][5]
• 1239 – An English synod uses it of the Eucharist growing mouldy.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mucous or slimy substance, such as a moisture that runs from vines.^[2][6]
2. Mould, mouldiness, mustiness, in bread, stored food, wine or vinegar.^[2][6][7]

Related words

• mūcus
• mūcidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
9. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press