morgue French · revision 16120

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=back-formation|attested=mid-15th century, Jacques du Clercq|origins=la-vul *murricō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mɔʁɡ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''morgue''' ''f'' (plural morgues)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a back-formation from the verb [[morguer]] “to treat with arrogance”, used from the 15th to the 18th century, although the noun is recorded first.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb was borrowed from the Occitan dialects of the south, where it still lives in Provençal and Languedocian, and was probably brought north by southern mercenaries at the end of the Hundred Years' War.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It goes back to a type [[la-vul|*murricō]], which must have meant “to pout”, derived from [[m|la-vul|*murrum|t=muzzle, snout]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|6/3, 239a) Littré thought the origin unknown, but quoted Languedocian [[oc|morga|t=muzzle]] as possibly the same word.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record, in the memoirs of Jacques du Clercq in the mid-15th century, has the general sense “look, countenance”.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) It appeared in phrases such as ''tenir morgue'' and ''faire bonne morgue'' “to put on a good face”;^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Rabelais describes Jupiter making ''une morgue tant espouvantable'' that all Olympus shook.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The modern pejorative sense, a haughty and disdainful bearing, is found in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538, through the phrase ''bonne morgue'' “a proud, assured look”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From 1526 or 1532 ''morgue'' named the place at the entrance of a prison where the gaolers examined new prisoners before locking them up;^(DHLF 1992) Rey explains the shift by the way the warders stared newcomers up and down with arrogance and contempt, and Ménage already took the word to mean “face”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Littré 1873) In the 17th century it passed to the place where the bodies of unknown dead were laid out to be identified (1674, or 1694 according to Bloch and Wartburg), the Paris Morgue, since replaced by the ''Institut médico-légal''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) The hospital room where the dead lie before burial is a later extension, recorded from 1943.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ English took [[m|en|morgue]] in 1821 from the name of the Paris building where bodies were exposed for identification.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * mid-15th century – ''Morgue'' “look, countenance” appears in Jacques du Clercq.^(TLFi)

+ * 1526 – Used for the room where new prisoners were examined.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1538 – Robert Estienne records the sense “haughty bearing”.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1575 – The verb ''morguer'' is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1674 – Used for the place where unknown bodies are laid out.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1831 – ''Morgueur'', the employee of a morgue, is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ * 1943 – Used for a hospital mortuary.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(literary)'' A haughty, [[m|en|disdainful]] bearing; [[m|en|arrogance]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A [[m|en|mortuary]] where unidentified bodies are kept to be identified or examined; the Paris ''Institut médico-légal''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A room in a hospital or clinic where the dead are kept until burial.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(historical)'' The room at a prison entrance where new prisoners were examined.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[morguer]]

+ * [[morgueur]]

+ * [[moraille]]

+ * [[en|morgue]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate technical word ''morgue'', the mouth of the bag of certain fishing nets (recorded by Littré in 1868), is of uncertain origin, perhaps a southern word from [[la|manica|t=sleeve]].^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}