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nemuritor

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Etymology and origin of the Romanian word nemuritor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1642 the Cazania of Govora More words from the 17th century
Ultimate origin
Romanian muri
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin morior
French mourir
Romanian muri
Romanian muritor
Romanian nemuritor
From the same root
Latin ēmorior ← morior
Latin immorior ← morior
Latin intermorior ← morior
Latin moribundus ← morior

Pronunciation

  • /ˌne.mu.riˈtor/[1]

Forms

nemuritor m or n (feminine singular nemuritoare, masculine plural nemuritori, feminine/neuter plural nemuritoare)[1] Old texts have the masculine nemuritoriu: „Cu multă nevoință să-ș agonisască nemuritoriu nume” “to win an immortal name with much toil” (a. 1650).[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian ne- + muritor, the negative of “mortal”.[2][4][3][1] muritor is itself made from muri “to die” with the agent suffix -tor.[5] Tiktin gives that base as the etymon.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is the Cazania of Govora of 1642.[6] The Moldavian Pravila of 1646 has „nemuritoriu nume pre lume” “an immortal name in the world”, and MDA2's first record is a text of before 1650 in Gaster's chrestomathy, with the same phrase of an immortal name.[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has two sides from the start: what does not die, and what lives on in memory, an immortal name or work.[2][4] As a noun it names beings that live for ever, especially the gods, in poets such as Heliade and Alexandrescu.[2] Șăineanu in 1929 gives the plural for the gods of paganism.[7] In botany the feminine nemuritoare is the immortelle, Helichrysum bracteatum.[6][3] DLR lists old synonyms, nemuricios and nemortac.[2]

Timeline

  • 1642 – first record, in the Cazania of Govora.[6]
  • 1646 – nemuritoriu nume in the Moldavian Pravila.[2][6]
  • before 1650 – nemuritoriu nume in a text in Gaster's chrestomathy.[3][2]
  • 1750–1780 – lucru minunat și nemuritoriu “a wondrous and immortal deed”.[2]
  • 1893–1895 – Damé: “immortel, impérissable”.[8]
  • 1929 – Șăineanu: the plural for the pagan gods.[7]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. immortal: that never dies, that lives for ever (of a being or the soul).[4][3][1]
  2. Lasting through time; that lives for ever in people's memory, undying: o operă nemuritoare.[4][3]

Noun

  1. An immortal being; especially a god, or God.[4][3]
  2. (botany, feminine nemuritoare) The immortelle, an everlasting flower.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. nemuritor
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 134
  4. ^ a b c d e DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 706
  5. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 80
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. nemuritór
  7. ^ a b Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 427
  8. ^ Damé, Frédéric (1893–1895), Nouveau dictionnaire roumain-français, 4 vols., Bucarest: Imprimerie de l'État
Cite this entry

“Nemuritor.” Etymologically, 12 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/ro/nemuritor. Accessed 12 Nov. 2026.

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