Word Family - Mort

October theme: Mes de Muertos 💀

Introduction

I'm not seriously proposing that words for "death" all across the Northern Hemisphere are related, but I'm not entirely not proposing that, or at least that there may be an ancient wander-word (possibly driven by taboo replacement?) that made its way across much Eurasia.

In any case, some of the relations are plausible enough to be fun to explore, and for it to be a good excuse to explore a bunch of other language families.

Teaser

manticore, ambrosia, mortgage, mortal, nightmare, murder

Full Text

Central Asian Substrate??
- Proto-Indo-European *mer- to die ^[1]
  - Proto-Indo-European *mér-ti primary verb
    
    Anatolian
    
    Hittite 𒈨𒅕𒍣 me-er-zi diminish?, disappear?
    
    Balto-Slavic
    
    Lithuanian mir̃ti to die
    
    Slavic *merti to die
    
    East Slavic мерети mereti
    
    Russian мере́ть merétʹ to die, to perish (in large numbers)
    
    South Slavic
    
    Bulgarian мра mra to die
    
    Old Church Slavonic мрѣти mrěti to die
    
    Serbo-Croatian мрије̑ти mrijȇti to die
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish mrzeć to die
    
    Indo-Iranian
    
    Indo-Aryan
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀭𑀢𑀺 marati to die
    
    Elu
    
    Sinhala මැරෙනවා mærenavā
    
    Magadhi
    
    Bengali মরা môra to die
    
    Sauraseni
    
    Madhya
    
    Hindi मरना marnā to die, to be dead
    
    Pahari
    
    Nepali मर्नु marnu to die
    
    Punjabi ਮਰਣਾ marṇā to die
    
    Iranian
    
    Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬭𐬙𐬈 marte
    
    Pashto مړینه mrrīta to die
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Persian مردن‏ mordan to die
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Kurdish mirin death
  - Proto-Indo-European *mr̥yé-ti ye- intransitive
    
    Indo-Iranian *mr̥iyáte
    
    Indo-Aryan *mr̥iyáte
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑁆𑀭𑀺𑀬𑀢𑁂 mriyate to die, decease
    
    Iranian *mr̥iyáte
    
    Avestan 𐬨𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬈𐬙𐬈 miriiete dies
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Old Persian 𐎠𐎶𐎼𐎡𐎹𐎫𐎠 amriyta died? ^[2]
    
    Italic *morjor
    
    Latin morior I die, I wither
    
    Sardinian morrere to die
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian a muri to die
    
    Western Romance
    
    French mourir to die, to be dying
    
    Italian morire death, to die
    
    Spanish morir to die
    
    Latin moribundus dying, moribund, fatal
    
    French moribond moribund
    
    English moribund
    
    Italian moribondo dying, moribund, dying person
    
    Spanish moribundo moribund, near death
    
    Latin morticinium
    
    Western Romance
    
    Old French mourine
    
    English murrain
    
    Spanish morriña homesickness, murrain
  - Proto-Indo-European *moréye-ti to kill causative
    
    Indo-Iranian
    
    Indo-Aryan
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀸𑀭𑀬𑀢𑀺 māráyati
    
    Sauraseni
    
    Madhya
    
    Hindi मारना mārnā to beat, to strike, to kill, to murder
    
    Balto-Slavic
    
    Slavic *moriti to murder
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian мори́ть morítʹ to destroy, to poison, to exhaust
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian мо̀рити moriti to kill, to assassinate
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish morzyć to kill cruelly (archaic)
  - Proto-Indo-European *mérs-n̥t s perfective
    
    Old Armenian մեռանիմ meṙanim to die
    
    Armenian մեռնել meṙnel to die
  - Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tó-s dead, mortal primary adjective
    
    Old Armenian մարդ mard mortal, human, the human race
    
    Armenian մարդ mard human being, person, human race, someone
    
    Germanic *murþã death, murder noun
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse morð murder
    
    Danish mord murder
    
    Icelandic morð murder
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English morþ death, crime, murder
    
    Scots murth murder, slaughter
    
    Frankish
    
    Dutch moord murder
    
    Old High German mord murder
    
    German Mord murder
    
    Indo-Iranian *mr̥tás dead, mortal, human
    
    Indo-Aryan
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀾𑀢 mṛtá dead, deathly, death, a grave
    
    Elu
    
    Sinhala මළ maḷa
    
    Magadhi
    
    Bengali মৃত mritô dead
    
    Sauraseni
    
    Madhya
    
    Hindi मृत mṛtá dead
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀭𑁆𑀢 mártas mortal, human, the mortal world, the Earth
    
    Iranian
    
    Avestan 𐬨𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬙𐬀 mərəta dead
    
    Northern Iranian
    
    Ossetian мард dead
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Kurdish mêr man, husband
    
    Old Persian 𐎶𐎼𐎫𐎡𐎹 m-r-t-i-y mortal, human, man
    
    Persian مرد‏ mard mortal, human, man
    
    Turkish mert manly, brave
    
    Old Persian *martya-χvāra manticore lit. "man-eater"
    
    Persian مردخوار mardykhor manticore
    
    Ancient Greek μαρτῐχόρᾱς martikhórās
    
    Latin mantichōra
    
    French manticore
    
    English manticore
    
    Uralic
    
    Finnic *mardas dead, dying
    
    Finnish marras dead or dying person, soul of a dead person, omen of death
    
    Estonian marras fragile, brittle
    
    Finnic *mardas-keci dead-skin
    
    Finnish marraskesi stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin that flakes
    
    Mordvinic
    
    Erzya мирде mirde man, husband
    
    Permic
    
    Komi морт mort person
    
    Proto-Indo-European *n̥mr̥tós undying, immortal
    
    Hellenic *amrtos
    
    Ancient Greek ᾰ̓́μβροτος ámbrotos immortal, divine, food of the gods
    
    Latin ambrosia food of the gods, ambrosia
    
    French ambroisie ambrosia
    
    English ambrosia
    
    Indo-Iranian
    
    Indo-Aryan
    
    Sanskrit 𑀅𑀫𑀾𑀢 amṛta immortal, immortality, food or drink of the gods
    
    Sauraseni
    
    Madhya
    
    Hindi अमृत amrit drink of the gods, nectar, elixir of immortality
    
    Pahari
    
    Punjabi ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ammrit baptismal holy water, nectar
    
    Telugu అమృతము amr̥tamu nectar, antidote to poison
    
    Iranian
    
    Avestan amərətāt Divinity of long life and eternal afterlife
    
    Proto-Indo-European *mr̥wó-s dead, mortal adjective variant
    
    Celtic *marwos
    
    Brythonic *marw dead
    
    Welsh marw dead
    
    Old Irish marb dead, pertaining to the dead, inanimate, stagnant,dead body
    
    Irish marbh dead, dead person
    
    Celtic *marwāti re-derived verb
    
    Old Irish marbaid to kill, to slay, to annul
    
    Proto-Indo-European *mr̥twó-s dead, mortal adjective variant
    
    Balto-Slavic
    
    Slavic *mьrtvъ
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian мёртвый mjórtvyj dead, lifeless, a dead person
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian мр̀тав mr̀tav
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish martwy dead, inanimate
    
    Polish martwa natura still life (art)
    
    Italic *mortwos
    
    Latin mortuus dead, a dead body ^[3]
    
    Sardinian mortu dead
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian mort dead, dead body
    
    Western Romance ^[3]
    
    French mort dead, dead person ^[3]
    
    Italian morto dead, dead person, dead body ^[3]
    
    Spanish muerto dead, dead person ^[3]
    
    Spanish Día de Muertos Day of the Dead ^[4]
    
    English Dia de los Muertos ^[4]
    
    Latin mortuārium
    
    Old French mortuarie
    
    English mortuary
    
    Vulgar Latin *admortēscō I deaden, I bring to death
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian a amorți to numb, to deaden
    
    Western Romance
    
    Old French
    
    French amortir to deaden, to muffle, to absorb, to pay off, to amortize
    
    English amortize
    
    Italian ammortire to deaden, to numb, to muffle, to dim
  - Proto-Indo-European *morbʰos deathly? appearing dead?
    
    Italic
    
    Latin morbus disease, ailment, grief, failing, death
    
    Western Romance
    
    French morve snot, glanders
    
    Italian morbo disease
    
    Spanish muermo glanders, boredom
    
    Latin morbidus sickly, unwholesome
    
    English morbid
  - Proto-Indo-European *mértis death abstract noun
    
    Pre-Albanian *merusa
    
    Albanian mërshë corpse, carrion
    
    Balto-Slavic
    
    Lithuanian mirtìs death
    
    Slavic *mьrtь death
    
    Slavic *sъmьrtь
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian смерть smertʹ death
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian смр̏т smȑt death
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish śmierć death
    
    Indo-Iranian
    
    Indo-Aryan *mr̥tyúṣ
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀾𑀢𑁆𑀬𑀼 mṛtyú death, dying, divinity of death
    
    Pali maccu death
    
    Hindi मृत्यु mŕtyu death, divinity of death
    
    Telugu మృత్యువు mr̥tyuvu death
    
    Thai มฤตยู má-rʉ́t-dtà-yuu deadly, fatal, divinity of death, Uranus (planet)
    
    Iranian *mr̥θyúš
    
    Avestan mərəiti
    
    Western Iranian
    
    Northwestern Iranian
    
    Parthian *marh(u)
    
    Old Armenian մահ mah death
    
    Armenian մահ mah death
    
    Old Persian məršiyu
    
    Italic *mortis
    
    Latin mors death acc.: mortem ^[3]
    
    Sardinian molte death
    
    Eastern Romance
    
    Romanian moarte death
    
    Western Romance
    
    Old French mort death
    
    French mort death ^[3]
    
    Old French mort gage
    
    English mortgage
    
    Italian morte death ^[3]
    
    Spanish muerte death ^[3]
    
    Latin mortālis mortal
    
    Western Romance
    
    French mortel
    
    English mortal
    
    Italian mortale mortal
    
    Spanish mortal deadly, mortal
    
    Latin immortālis immortal, undying
    
    French immortel
    
    Italian immortale
    
    Spanish inmortal
    
    English immortal
  - Proto-Indo-European *mórō evil spirit associated with death, sleep, and dreams
    
    Albanian merë fear, awe
    
    Albanian tmerr horror, terror
    
    Balto-Slavic ^[5]
    
    Slavic *mara
    
    West Slavic
    
    Czech mura nightmare, moth
    
    Polish mara dream, nightmare, creature that drinks the blood of sleeping people
    
    Polish zmora bane, nightmare ^[5]
    
    Balto-Slavic *máras ^[5]
    
    Lithuanian mãras
    
    Slavic *morъ
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian мор mor pestilence, plague
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian мо̑р mȏr
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish mór plague
    
    Balto-Slavic *Máre? Divinity of Winter, Death and Rebirth, and Dreams ^[5]
    
    Lithuanian Morė
    
    Slavic
    
    East Slavic
    
    Russian Марена
    
    South Slavic
    
    Serbo-Croatian Morana
    
    West Slavic
    
    Polish Marzanna
    
    Celtic *moro
    
    Celtic *Moro-rīganīs
    
    Old Irish Morrígan Divinity of Fate and Doom lit. "Phantom Queen" ^[6]
    
    English Morrigan
    
    Germanic *marȭ evil spirit, incubus, mara
    
    Old Norse mara
    
    Icelandic mara
    
    English mara
    
    Finnish mara nightmare, mara
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English mare mara, evil spirit, nightmare
    
    Old High German mara
    
    German Mahr mara, succubus
    
    Frankish *mara
    
    Dutch mare mara, nightmare, witch
    
    Old French mare
    
    Old French cauquemare nightmare lit. "pressing mara"
    
    French cauchemar nightmare
    
    West Germanic *nahts-marȭ lit. "night mara""
    
    Old English *nihtemare
    
    English nightmare
    
    Scots nichtmare
    
    Old High German
    
    German Nachtmahr
    
    Frankish nahtmara
    
    Dutch nachtmerrie nightmare
    
    Indo-Iranian
    
    Indo-Aryan
    
    Sanskrit 𑀫𑀸𑀭 māra death pestilence, killing, Divinity of Death (Hinduism), Divinity of Anti-Enlightenment (Buddhism)
  - Proto-Indo-European *mŕ̥trom instrumental
    
    Germanic *murþrã murder, killing
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂 maurþr murder
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English morþor murder
    
    English murder
    
    Frankish *murþra murder
    
    Medieval Latin murdrum
    
    English murdrum
    
    Old French murdre
    
    Germanic *murþrijanã to murder
    
    East Germanic
    
    Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 maurþrjan to murder, to kill
    
    North Germanic
    
    Old Norse myrða to murder
    
    Danish myrde to murder
    
    Icelandic myrða to murder
    
    West Germanic
    
    Old English myrþran to murder
    
    English murder
    
    Old High German murdirēn
    
    German mördern
    
    Frankish *murthrijan
    
    French meurtrir to injure, to hurt, to bruise
- Proto-Afro-Asiatic *mUt-
  - Berber *mVt-
    
    Northern Berber
    
    Kabyle emmet
    
    Atlas Berber
    
    Tamazigh emmet
  - Chadic *mawut-
    
    East Chadic
    
    Dangaléat muutu
    
    West Chadic
    
    Hausa mutu
    
    Tangale mud-
  - Cushitic *-umaaw-
  - Egyptian mwt to die, death
    
    Demotic Egyptian mwt
    
    Coptic ⲙⲟⲩ mou to die
  - Semitic *mūt- to die
    
    Central Semitic
    
    Arabic مَاتَ māta to die
    
    Northwest Semitic
    
    Aramaic מית mīt to die
    
    Canaanite
    
    Hebrew מֵת met dead, to die
    
    Yiddish מת meys dead person
    
    East Semitic
    
    Akkadian mâtu
    
    Akkadian 𒉆𒁁𒈨𒌍 mutanu
    
    Aramaic מוֹתָנָא mōṯānā pestilence, plague
    
    Arabic مَوْتَان mawtān plague, pestilence, murrain
    
    South Semitic
    
    Ethiopic
    
    Amharic መሞት mämot to die
    
    Ge'ez ሞተ motä to die
    
    Semitic *mawVt death
    
    Central Semitic
    
    Arabic مَوْت mawt death
    
    Northwest Semitic
    
    Aramaic mawt'e death, cause of death, execution, plague
    
    Canaanite
    
    Hebrew מוות mávet death
    
    Yiddish מוות moves death
    
    South Semitic
    
    Ethiopic
    
    Amharic ሞት mot death
    
    Semitic *mut- mortal, person, man
    
    Central Semitic
    
    Northwest Semitic
    
    Amorite
    
    Ugaritic 𐎎𐎚 mt mortal, person, man
    
    East Semitic
    
    Akkadian 𒁮 mutu husband, spouse
- Sino-Austronesian **mtj
  - Austronesian *mataj
    
    East Formosan
    
    Amis patay death, to die
    
    Malayo-Polynesian
    
    Borito
    
    Malagasy maty
    
    Javanese mati dead
    
    Malay mati to die, dead
    
    Philippine
    
    Tagalog matay to die
    
    Oceanic
    
    Fijian mate dead, death
    
    Polynesian *mate death
    
    Tongan mate death, dead
    
    Nuclear Polynesian
    
    Marquesic
    
    Hawaiʻian make death, peril, to die, to faint
    
    Hawaiʻian Creole English maki dead, broken
    
    Rapa Nui mate dead, to die
    
    Tahitic
    
    Māori mate dead, death, disease
    
    Tahitian mate dead, to die
    
    Malayo-Polynesian **tau-mataj mortal person? with *tau: "person"
    
    Oceanic *taumataʻ person
    
    Polynesian *taŋata person
    
    Tongan tangata man
    
    Nuclear Polynesian
    
    Marquesic
    
    Hawaiʻian kanaka human, subject, retainer, Hawaiian
    
    English kanaka
    
    French canaque native of New Caledonia, Kanak
    
    English Kanak
    
    Marquesan ʻenata
    
    Rapa Nui tangata human, person, man
    
    Rapa Nui tangata manu birdman
    
    Samoan tagata man, human
    
    Tahitic
    
    Māori tangata human, person, man
    
    Tahitian taʻata human, person, man
  - Hmong-Mien
    
    Hmong tuag tṳə to die
  - Kra-Dai
    
    Tai *p.tāj
    
    Northern Tai
    
    Zhuang dai to die
    
    Southwestern Tai
    
    Lao ຕາຍ tāi to die
    
    Thai ตาย dtaai to die
    
    Khmer តាយ taay to die
  - Sino-Tibetan *səj
    
    Old Chinese *sijʔ
    
    Middle Chinese 死 sˠiɪˣ to die, death, dead, deadly
    
    Cantonese 死 sei²
    
    Mandarin 死 sǐ
    
    Shanghainese 死 xi²
    
    Japanese 死 shi death
    
    Vietnamese tử to die
    
    Middle Chinese 死亡 death, to die (formal)
    
    Cantonese 死亡 sei² mong⁴ death, to die (formal)
    
    Mandarin 死亡 sǐwáng death, to die (formal)
    
    Shanghainese 死亡 sr vaan death, to die (formal)
    
    Japanese shibō to die
    
    Korean 사망 samang death
    
    Vietnamese tử vong to die (formal)
    
    Taiwanese 死 sí
    
    Tibeto-Burman
    
    Burmese သေ se to die, dead
    
    Tibetan འཆི་བ 'chi ba death, to die, to be destroyed
  - Austroasiatic *kc(ə)t
    
    Monic
    
    Mon ချိုတ် chat to die
    
    Vietic *k-ceːt
    
    Vietnamese chết to die
  - Northwest Caucasian
    
    Abkhaz псра ṗsrā death
  - Dené–Yeniseian
    
    Na-Dené
    
    Athbaskan *(da̓)-tsa-(nʸ) dies
    
    Northern Athbaskan
    
    Athna daztsaan dies
    
    Pacific Coast Athbaskan
    
    Hupa chi'chi't to die (direct, impolite)
    
    Southern Athbaskan
    
    Navajo daatsaah is sick, dies
    
    Navajo jóhonaaʼéí daaztsą́ solar eclipse

Visual

Collected English words

moribund, murrain, manticore, ambrosia, Dia de los Muertos, mortuary, amortize, morbid, mortgage, mortal, immortal, Morrigan, mara, nightmare, murder, murdrum, murder, kanaka, Kanak

Footnotes

^
Let's work through the steps of how I came to include so many language families as possible relations:
1. PIE *mer- is pretty short root for PIE, the standard root has three or four consonants ("triconsonantal roots", anyone?). If it was a borrowing from, say, **mʁt, the "t" would likely have been dropped from the root due to rebracketing because they are so many PIE grammatical endings which start with /t/. Note that the majority of the IE words are from forms with /t/ suffixes: the verb *mér-ti, the adjective *mr̥tó-s, and noun *mérti-s.
2. There are so many plausible borrowings between Proto-Semitic and Proto-Indo-European that it's almost certain that at least some of them are truly connected. So the Semitic root m-w-t: "death" jump out as a possible relation.
3. The Semitic root *m-w-t for death is clearly shared with other branches of Afro-Asiatic; basically every branch of Afro-Asiatic has a word for "death" with /m/, /w/, and/or /t/.
4. At this point, suddenly Malayo-Polynesian words like Tagalog "matay" for "death" are getting caught in the phonological nets I'm casting to fill out related words.
5. Malayo-Polynesian is part of Austronesian. There are a striking number of similar roots between Proto-Austronesian and Proto-Sino-Tibetan, and often Proto-Tai-Kadai and Proto-Hmong-Mien as well. So having an Austronesian root, I check those other branches. Proto-Tai *p.taj is just de-nasalization compared to Austronesian *matay.
6. Sino-Tibetan *sej does not immediately stand out as looking all that much like *matay, but if you start from something like Proto-Tai *p.taj, the /p/ would be lost as part of the standard loss of archaic Sino-Tibetan consonant prefixes, and then all that needs to happen is for the vowel to become fronted, which would then trigger palatalization, and you could get *sej.
7. At that point, why not include Proto-Austroasiatic *kc(ə)t (sometimes included in Sino-Austronesian), and Northwest Caucasian (Abkhaz) ṗsrā and Na-Dene *tsa (occasionally grouped with Sino-Tibetan as "Sino-(Dené)-Caucasian") as well! Just for fun!
^
Old Persian 𐎠𐎶𐎼𐎡𐎹𐎫𐎠 amriyta appears in the Behistun inscription of Darius I, in his story of how he came to be Emperor: "After that, Cambyses died by his own hand." agarbâyatâ : pasâva : Kabûjiya : uvâmarshiyush : amariyatâ : thâtiy http://www.avesta.org/op/op.htm#db1
^
There is a merge or near-merge between mortuus, "dead" (adj.)/"dead (person)" and mortem, "death" (abstract noun) in Western Romance languages.
^
Spanish Día de Muertos is perhaps more literally "Day of Dead People". It is an indefinite plural in the original Spanish, unlike the English translation Day of the Dead (definite mass noun), or the common Anglophone back-translation mistake, Día de los Muertos (definite plural).
^
The Baltic and Slavic languages have a lot of words related to the *mórō concept, but it's difficult to nail down the specifics of how they all relate to each other.
^
The Morrigan's name in Old Irish is alternately spelled either Morrígan, connected to this root, and interpreted as "Phantom Queen", or else as Mórrígan: "great queen". It seems likely Mórrígan is an eggcorn, as mór ("big, great") is a still a very common word in Irish, but mor has disappeared.

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