Etymograph

English

memoria

Memoria comes from Latin memoria ‘memory’, from memor ‘mindful, remembering’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-1‘to think, remember’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemor2‘mindful, remembering’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemoria2‘memory’
  4. Englishtodaymemoria2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin memor
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English memoria

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*(s)mer-Wiktionary, Latin memor‘to think, remember’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemorWiktionary, English memoria‘mindful, remembering’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmemoriaWiktionary, English memoria‘memory’
  4. EnglishtodaymemoriaWiktionary, English memoria

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- ‘to think, remember’

merit, martyr, mourn, mer, mora, 19 more

through Latin memor ‘mindful, remembering’

remember, 5 more

through Latin memoria ‘memory’

memoir, 1 more

Today it means

noun One of the five canons of classical rhetoric: the discipline of memory and recall.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “memoria”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin memor. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- / memoria

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