murena Latin · revision 34334

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc μύραινα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [mʊˈreː.na]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [muˈrɛː.na]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''murēna''' ''f'' (genitive murēnae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The OLD gives ''mūraena'' as a variant spelling.^(OLD 2012)

+ Georges finds both spellings well attested in manuscripts, with ''mūrēna'' apparently the later.^(Georges 1913)

+ Inscriptions mostly write ⟨-ren-⟩, and manuscripts often have ''mor-''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μύραινα|tr=múraina]],^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Saalfeld 1874) a Greek word whose further origin Köbler finds unclear.^(Köbler 2010) The Romans knew it was foreign: Varro lists it among the fish names taken from abroad, after its Greek name,^(Varro) and Isidore says the Greeks gave it its name because it coils itself into circles.^(Isidore)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(Köbler 2010) for the moray: ''me quasi murenam exossare cogitat'', “he means to bone me like a moray”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names a sea fish the Romans were very fond of eating,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) mentioned by Lucilius, Varro and Cicero;^(Georges 1913) the OLD thinks it was probably confused with the lamprey.^(OLD 2012) Horace has a moray brought to table “swimming among shrimps”,^(OLD 2012) Seneca tells of morays fattened on human blood,^(OLD 2012) Pliny the Elder notes that they have neither fins nor gills,^(OLD 2012) and Quintilian mentions one five feet long.^(OLD 2012) By likeness Pliny uses it of a flaw in timber, a black streak running through citron-wood table tops.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Isidore says a woman's necklace of gold wire twisted into a winding chain was popularly called ''murena'' after its likeness to the fish,^(Isidore) and medieval Latin keeps the sense “lady's necklace”.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) Medieval British writers usually mean the lamprey: Ælfric's ''Colloquy'' glosses it with Old English ''lampredan'', and Henry of Huntingdon writes under the year 1135 that the king ate lampreys, which always disagreed with him and which he always loved.^(DMLBS) It lives on in French [[m|fr|murène]], Italian [[m|it|murena]] and Spanish [[m|es|morena]];^(Wiktionary) English [[m|en|moray]] came in the 1620s from Portuguese [[m|pt|moreia]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for the moray.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius mentions the fish.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace describes a moray served at table.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a black streak in timber.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 560–636 AD – Isidore uses it for a woman's necklace.^(Isidore)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1135 – Henry of Huntingdon writes of a king eating lampreys.^(DMLBS)

+ * 1620s – English borrows [[m|en|moray]] from Portuguese.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A sea [[m|en|eel]], the [[m|en|moray]] (probably confused with the [[m|en|lamprey]]); ''(Medieval Latin)'' usually the lamprey.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(DMLBS)

+ # A black streak in timber, a flaw.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Late and Medieval Latin)'' A woman's [[m|en|necklace]].^(Isidore)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mūrēnula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|moray]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Medieval ''murena'' (also ''morina'') “cattle plague, murrain” comes from a different source.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) ''Mūrēna'' was also a Roman cognomen, above all of Lucius Licinius Murena, consul in 62 BC, whom Cicero defended on a charge of electoral bribery;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler derives the name from the fish.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}