Etymograph

English

mortality

Mortality comes from Old French mortalite ‘death’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-1‘to die’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mértis1‘death’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mortis1‘death’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmors2‘death’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmortālis2‘relating to death’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmortālitās2
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400mortalite2‘death’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1595mortality2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin mors
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English mortality
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., [Amoretti.] Sonnet XIII: “[H]er minde remembreth her mortalitie, / vvhat ſo is…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-Wiktionary, Latin mors‘to die’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mértisWiktionary, Latin mors‘death’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*mortisWiktionary, Latin mors‘death’reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmorsWiktionary, English mortality‘death’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmortālisWiktionary, English mortality‘relating to death’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmortālitāsWiktionary, English mortality
  7. Old Frenchc. 842–1400mortaliteWiktionary, English mortality‘death’
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1595mortalityWiktionary, English mortality. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1595, Edmunde Spenser [i.e., [Amoretti.] Sonnet XIII: “[H]er minde remembreth her mortalitie, / vvhat ſo is…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *mer- ‘to die’

remember, march, murder, marine, nightmare, mere, marsh, maritime, mare, mara, muller, moor, morbid, ambrosia, morn, marinate, mortuary, marinara, maar, moribund, cormorant, mortier, 60 more

through Proto-Italic *mortis ‘death’

mortician, 9 more

through Latin mors ‘death’

mortification, 9 more

through Latin mortālis ‘relating to death’

immortal, 2 more

Today it means

noun The state of being susceptible to death.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “mortality”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin mors. 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- / mortality

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