mortalis Latin · revision 8323
16 Oct 2026, 16:02 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la mors}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [mɔrˈtaː.lɪs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [morˈtaː.lis]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''mortālis''' (neuter mortāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[mors]] “death” with the suffix [[-ālis]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation for the noun is from Plautus, of a person.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant subject to death, mortal, human as opposed to divine, and of things perishable, transient, as in Cicero.^(OLD 2012) As a noun it meant a human being, a mortal, and in Plautus simply a person, a soul.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant mortal.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for what entails capital punishment and, of a sin, causing the death of the soul, mortal.^(Niermeyer 1976) British Medieval Latin used it for subject to death, as Bede's ''mortālis carō'' “mortal flesh”.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian ''mortale'', French ''mortel'' and Spanish ''mortal'', and through Old French it gave [[en|mortal]] in the late 14th century.^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the noun of a person.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the mortal and perishable.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – English ''mortal'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Adjective===
+ # Subject to death, [[m|en|mortal]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # Human.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Perishable, transient.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' Of a sin, deadly to the soul.^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ===Noun===
+ # A human being, a mortal; a person.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[commortālis]]
+ * [[immortālis]]
+ * [[mortālitās]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[mors]]
+ * [[morior]]
+ * [[en|mortal]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}