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muttum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word muttum

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
c. 383–419/420 AD, Jerome
Ultimate origin
Latin muttiō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mutus
Latin muttio
Latin muttum
French mot
From the same root
Latin obmutesco ← mutus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊt.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmut.tum][1]

Forms

muttum n (genitive muttī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation, from Latin muttiō (“to mutter”),[1][2] which is of imitative origin.[1] The TLL compares mūtmūt and that verb.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first secure instance is in Jerome's letters: ne muttum quidem facere dignaris (“you do not deign to make even a sound”).[3][4][5] Lewis and Short quote the phrase non audet dicere muttum from Lucilius, but the TLL doubts the earlier examples.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

It was used almost only in negative phrases, of not uttering a single word; a scholiast on Persius explains muttum nullum as “no word”, and the glossaries render it with Greek γρῦ (grû, “a grunt”).[3][6] Gaffiot gives the grunt of a pig.[7] Niermeyer records it in medieval Latin as a grumble or inarticulate cry.[8]

In the Romance languages it came to mean a word: the TLL lists mot, mot, mot, motto and mote.[3] English motto (1580s) came from the Italian word, and mot from the French.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses ne muttum quidem, not a sound.[3][5]
  • 1580s – English motto, from Italian.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A mutter, a grunt, a sound; in negative phrases, not a word.[6][3][4]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A grumble, an inarticulate cry.[8]
  • English motto

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Muttum.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/muttum. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·