Etymograph

English

moor

Moor comes from Old English mōr ‘marsh, wilderness, moor’, from Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘sea’, and perhaps ultimately from *mer-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-1‘sea, lake, wetland’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móri2‘sea’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mōraz2‘marsh, moor’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mōr2reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōr2‘marsh, wilderness, moor’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500mor2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1609moor2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *móri
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English moor
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall: “the ruins yet resting in the wild moors”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-Wiktionary, Proto-Indo-European *móri‘sea, lake, wetland’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*móriWiktionary, English moor‘sea’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mōrazWiktionary, English moor‘marsh, moor’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mōrWiktionary, English moorreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150mōrWiktionary, English moor‘marsh, wilderness, moor’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500morWiktionary, English moor
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1609moorWiktionary, English moor. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall: “the ruins yet resting in the wild moors”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘sea, lake, wetland’

remember, murder, nightmare, maritime, submarine, mortality, mara, immortal, muller, mortal, mortar, mariner, morbid, ambrosia, marshy, mortuary, marinara, mort, morn, moribund, cormorant, 57 more

through Proto-Indo-European *móri ‘sea’

march, marine, mere, marsh, mare, marinate, maar, 17 more

Another origin of moor

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mey-‘to build’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*moyro-reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*mairiją‘mooring post, post, boundary’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mairī‘mooring post’reconstructed
  5. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*mairōn‘to moor, fasten to’reconstructed
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150*mārianreconstructed
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500moren
  8. Englishtodaymoor

Today it means

noun An extensive waste covered with patches of heath, and having a poor, light (and usually acidic) soil, but sometimes marshy, and abounding in peat; a heath. (Compare bog, peatland, marsh, swamp, fen.)

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “moor”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Indo-European *móri. 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 *mer- / moor

Shirt and support for this word