μωρός Ancient Greek · revision 2341

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=6th–5th century BC, Simonides}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /mɔː.rós/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /moˈros/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /moˈros/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''μωρός''' (mōrós) ''m'' (feminine μωρᾱ́, neuter μωρόν); first/second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Attic μῶρος, with the accent probably taken from the vocative μῶρε.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Suda)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Bailly 2020) It has long been compared with [[sa|मूर|tr=mūrá-|t=dull, foolish]], with an ablaut ō : ū, but that ablaut is no longer accepted, and the Sanskrit word may rather mean “frail”.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Wiktionary) Beekes and Frisk point out that words for “stupid” are prone to irregular changes and blends, which makes comparison hard.^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960) Wiktionary mentions a possible link with Phrygian μουρον “stupid act”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ It was borrowed as [[la|mōrus|t=foolish]].^(Beekes 2010)^(Frisk 1960)^(Πάπυρος) Ancient writers derived it from μὴ ὁρᾶν “not to see”, which Pape dismisses.^(Pape 1914)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first examples are in Simonides, of a foolish man's counsel, and in the Hippocratic writings, where it describes slack, sluggish nerves.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In tragedy and comedy it is the ordinary word for a fool and for foolish talk or acts: Sophocles has “to think foolish things”, and Euripides τὸ μῶρον “folly”, which in his ''Hippolytus'' has the sense of sexual waywardness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021) Of taste it meant flat or insipid (Diocles, Dioscorides), and Epicurus spoke of a “blind necessity”.^(LSJ 1940)^(Bailly 2020)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ The Septuagint gave it a religious sense, as in Jeremiah's “foolish and heartless people”.^(LSJ 1940)^(Lust 2003) The New Testament uses it of imprudent people in the parables of Matthew, and Paul speaks of “the foolishness of God” that is wiser than men; the meaning of the insult μωρέ in Matthew 5:22 has been disputed.^(BDAG 2000)^(Thayer 1889)^(Spicq 1994) The verb [[μωραίνω|tr=mōraínō]] could mean “to lose its savour”, of salt.^(Spicq 1994)^(Beekes 2010)

+

+ Medieval Greek used it for fools and for the mentally disabled, and the neuter μωρό(ν) came to mean “baby”, as in [[el|μωρό|tr=moró]].^(Kriaras)^(Πάπυρος)^(Frisk 1960) The vocative μωρέ became an interjection, from which [[el|βρε|tr=vre]] comes, borrowed into Turkish and the Balkan languages.^(Wiktionary)^(Πάπυρος) [[el|μωρός|tr=morós]] itself is now a learned word.^(Triantafyllidis 1998) English [[m|en|moron]] was made from the neuter in 1910.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 6th–5th century BC – Simonides calls an opponent's counsel “the counsel of a foolish man”.^(LSJ 1940)^(BDAG 2000)^(DGE)

+ * 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it for foolish thoughts and words.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)^(DGE)

+ * 4th–3rd century BC – Diocles uses it of insipid taste.^(LSJ 1940)^(DGE)

+ * 1st century AD – the New Testament: imprudent people in Matthew's parables, and “the foolishness of God”.^(BDAG 2000)^(Abbott-Smith 1922)

+ * Medieval Greek – μωρός for a fool or a mentally disabled person.^(Kriaras)

+ * Modern Greek – μωρό “baby”; μωρός survives as a learned word.^(Πάπυρος)^(Triantafyllidis 1998)

+ * 1910 – English ''moron'' is coined from it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|dull]], [[m|en|sluggish]], of nerves; of wasps in winter.^(LSJ 1940)^(Bailly 2020)

+ # Of persons, [[m|en|foolish]], [[m|en|stupid]].^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # Of words or acts, foolish; as a noun, τὸ μῶρον, folly, and in Euripides wantonness.^(LSJ 1940)^(CGL 2021)

+ # ''(Septuagint)'' Godless, without understanding of God.^(LSJ 1940)^(Lust 2003)

+ # Of taste, [[m|en|insipid]], flat.^(LSJ 1940)^(Bailly 2020)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[μωραίνω|tr=mōraínō]]

+ * [[μωρία|tr=mōría]]

+ * [[μωρίζω|tr=mōrízō]]

+ * [[μωρολογία|tr=mōrología]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[μῶλυς|tr=môlus]]

+ * [[la|morus|alt=mōrus]]

+ * [[en|moron]]

+ * [[en|oxymoron]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverb “more foolish than Morychus” (Sophron) was said of a great fool.^(LSJ 1940)^(Πάπυρος)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}