morþ

See also: morth and morð

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *murþą, from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tós (“dead”). Cognate with Old Saxon morð, Dutch moord, Old High German mord (German Mord), Old Norse morð (Swedish mord). The Proto-Indo-European root is also the source of Ancient Greek βροτός (brotós, “mortal”) (earlier *μροτός (*mrotós)), Latin mortis (genitive of mors (“death”)), Old Church Slavonic мрѣти (mrěti) (Russian мере́ть (merétʹ)), Lithuanian mirtis (“death”). Compare Old English morþor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /morθ/, [morˠθ]

Noun

morþ n

1. (poetic) death, crime

   morþweorc ― deadly work, fatal act

2. murder

   morþslieht ― murder, deadly slaughter

   morþwyrhta ― murderer

Declension

Declension of morþ (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	morþ	morþ
accusative	morþ	morþ
genitive	morþes	morþa
dative	morþe	morþum

Derived terms

• morþbealo

Descendants

• Middle English: morth, murth
  • Scots: murth
  • English: murth