English
mortify
Mortify comes from Late Latin mortificō ‘cause death’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-‘to die’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*mértis‘death’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mortis‘death’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmors‘death’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmortificō‘cause death’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mortifier
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1400mortify
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-‘to die’reconstructed
- Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*mértis‘death’reconstructed
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mortis‘death’reconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmors‘death’
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEmortificō‘cause death’
- Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400mortifier
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1400mortify
Earliest quotation: c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oxford: Clarendon Press: “Soothly, the gode werkes, that he dide biforn that…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’
remember, march, murder, marine, nightmare, mere, marsh, maritime, mare, mara, muller, mortar, morbid, moor, ambrosia, marinate, marinara, morn, mortuary, maar, moribund, mortally, cormorant, 58 more
through Proto-Italic *mortis ‘death’
through Latin mors ‘death’
Today it means
verb To discipline (one's body, appetites etc.) by suppressing desires; to practise abstinence on.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *mer- / mortify