murmuro

Forms

murmurō (present infinitive murmurāre, perfect active murmurāvī, supine murmurātum); first conjugation^[1] A deponent murmuror is found in Claudius Quadrigarius, Varro and the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin murmur (“murmur”) + -ō.^[2][1] De Vaan, however, notes that murmur is attested later than the verb and may be derived from it; he traces the family to Proto-Italic *mo/ur-mo/ur-ā- and Proto-Indo-European *mr-mr-, a reduplicated formation of a kind found throughout Indo-European.^[3] Cognate with Sanskrit मर्मर (marmara-, “roaring”), Ancient Greek μορμύρω (mormúrō, “to roar and boil”) and Lithuanian murmė́ti (“to grumble, murmur”).^[3] Varro already explains it as named from a likeness of sound.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates the verb from Plautus,^[3] who has it of rumbling guts, mihi intestina murmurant, and of a woman muttering to herself.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to make a low continuous sound, to rumble, roar or hum, of things,^[2] and to speak in a low or indistinct voice, to mutter or murmur.^[2] Ovid uses it of a lifeless tongue murmuring something tearful.^[2] It also means to mutter angrily, to grumble, and transitively to complain of: Plautus has slaves who grumble although their master allows it.^[2] The Rhetorica ad Herennium lists it beside mūgiō among verbs made from natural sounds.^[4] In Church Latin it is to murmur, grumble or complain.^[5] English murmur (late 14th century) comes from it through Old French murmurer.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of rumbling and of muttering.^[2][3][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro, on the sound of the word.^[4][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a murmuring tongue.^[2][7]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as murmur, through Old French.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make a low continuous sound, to rumble, roar, hum.^[2][8]
2. To speak in a low voice, to mutter, murmur;^[2][8][1] to utter in subdued tones.^[2]
3. To mutter angrily, to grumble;^[2][8][1][5] to complain of.^[2][1]

Word family

• immurmurō
• murmurābundus
• murmurātiō
• murmurātor
• murmurillō
• submurmurō

Related words

• murmur

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press