murderer English · revision 39491

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation, borrowing|attested=1340, Ayenbite of Inwyt|origins=fro mordrir}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /ˈmɜːdəɹə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /ˈmɝdɚɚ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It has more than one source: it is partly formed within English as [[m|en|murder]] with the suffix [[m|en|-er]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024) and partly [[bor|xno|murdreour]], [[m|xno|mordreour]],^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) from [[fro|mordrir|t=to murder]] with the agent suffix.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Etymonline gives the earliest Middle English form as [[m|enm|murtherer]] (early 14th century), later [[m|enm|mordrer]], and traces the French side further to [[la-med|murdrarius]],^(Etymonline) which the OED records in British sources from 1214.^(OED 2026) Old English had other words for a murderer, among them [[ang|myrþra]] and [[m|ang|morþorwyrhta]], literally a "murder-wright".^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A person who kills another unlawfully, a person guilty of murder: 1340, in the ''Ayenbite of Inwyt''.^(OED 2026) Etymonline dates ''mordrer'' to the mid-14th century and ''murtherer'' to the early 14th.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word was soon used loosely of anything that destroys or kills (c1400, in Langland),^(OED 2026) and Chaucer used it for a traitor, a sense that died out in the 15th century.^(OED 2026) Things that kill were also called ''murderers'': a small cannon or mortar, especially one mounted on a warship to repel boarders (from 1495),^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) a dagger (c1500),^(OED 2026) and, from the early 19th century, fishing tackle with many hooks used for catching cod.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) Wright's dialect dictionary records this fishing ''murderer'' in Orkney, a long lead bar hung with hooks and towed behind the boat.^(Wright 1898) Johnson (1755) defined a murderer as one who has shed human blood unlawfully.^(Johnson 1755) The ''murderers' row'' of New York's Tombs prison gave a figurative baseball term from 1858,^(Etymonline) and ''murtherer'' survives as an archaic and dialect spelling.^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * early 14th century – ''murtherer'' (Etymonline).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1340 – a person who murders another.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1390 – a traitor, in Chaucer (obsolete by about 1460).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1495 – a small cannon or mortar.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+ * c1500 – a dagger (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – Johnson defines it as one who has killed a person criminally.^(Johnson 1755)

+ * c1811 – fishing tackle for catching cod.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who has committed [[murder]].^(MWU 2024)^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+ # (historical) A small [[cannon]] or [[mortar]], used especially on ships against boarders.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (historical) A weighted bar or line with many hooks for catching [[cod]].^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[self-murderer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[murder]]

+ * [[murderess]]

+ * [[murderous]]

+ * [[murther]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}