Etymologically
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murra

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murra1 myrrh

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

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.