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murra

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word murra

murra1 myrrh

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek μύρρα
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (μύρρα)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊr.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmur.ra][1]

Forms

murra f (genitive murrae); first declension[1] It is also spelled myrrha and murrha;[2][3] Lewis & Short call these less correct.[2][3]

Etymology

The myrrh is borrowed from Ancient Greek μύρρα (múrrhā, “myrrh”),[2][1][4] which Wiktionary calls of Semitic origin.[1] Saalfeld connects it with σμύρνα (smúrna).[5] The grammarian Priscian notes that the old Romans wrote ⟨mu-⟩ for the Greek ⟨μυ-⟩.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus, of a breath that smells of myrrh.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Myrrh was an aromatic gum: Vitruvius speaks of lumps of it, Celsus of its use to close wounds, and Pliny the Elder names frankincense and myrrh as the chief products of Arabia.[2] It served as an ointment for the hair, in Propertius and Ovid,[2][6] and was burnt at funerals, in Martial and Apuleius.[2] The word also named the tree that yields it: in Pliny the Sabaeans cook their food over the wood of frankincense or of myrrh,[2][6] and Columella uses it of an aromatic herb, the same as myrrhis.[2]

Christian writers read it as a sign of bitterness: Jerome glosses it so in his psalm homilies, and Isidore repeats the idea.[4] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for myrrh and the myrrh tree.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a breath that smells of myrrh.[2][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of hair wet with myrrh.[2][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the tree.[2][8]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of an aromatic herb.[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Myrrh, an aromatic gum used in ointments and burnt at funerals.[2][3]
  2. The tree that yields myrrh.[2][3]
  3. An aromatic herb, sweet cicely (= myrrhis).[2][3]

Word family

murra2 murrine stone

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
39–65 AD, Lucan

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊr.ra][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmur.ra][1]

Forms

murra f (genitive murrae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The stone's name is of Asian origin according to the OLD and the TLL, which compare Ancient Greek μόρρια (mórrhia, “murrine vessels”).[2][4][1] Köbler and Wiktionary call it Iranian, Köbler comparing a Persian word for a small glass bead.[8][1] The ancients connected it with the word for myrrh, but the TLL holds that the two are different words.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Lucan, for a cup made of it: people revived by plain water do not drink from gold and murra.[4][6][8]

Semantic evolution

It was a highly prized mineral from which cups and vases were made, probably fluorspar and perhaps also agate.[2][6] Martial speaks of spotted cups of murra and contrasts drinking from glass with drinking from murra,[4][9] and Statius has Earinus carrying cups, murrae and crystal.[4]

In medieval Britain the word was used of maple wood, from which drinking bowls were made; inventories of the 13th and 14th centuries list cups de murra with silver feet.[10] Niermeyer gives both the maple wood and a mazer bowl.[11]

Timeline

  • 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it of cups.[4][8]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of spotted cups and the material.[4][8]
  • 1276 – A British record lists a cup of maple wood with a silver foot.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A costly mineral from which vessels were made, probably fluorspar.[2][9]
  2. (metonymy) A cup made of it, a murrine vessel.[4][12]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Maple wood; a mazer, a maple-wood bowl.[10][11]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  10. ^ a b c 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
  11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  12. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Murra.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/murra. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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