Etymograph

English

murder

Murder comes from Middle English murder, an alteration of murthre, from Old English morþor, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-1‘to die’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mr̥tro-2‘killing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murþrą3‘death, murder’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*morþr4reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150morþor2‘secret slaying’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500murthre2‘murder’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500murder2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1577murder2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *murþrą
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English murder
  3. 3 Wiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *morþr
  4. 4 Wiktionary, Old English morþor
  5. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Historie of Englande: “In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mer-Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *murþrą‘to die’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*mr̥tro-Wiktionary, English murder‘killing’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*murþrąWiktionary, Proto-West Germanic *morþr‘death, murder’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*morþrWiktionary, Old English morþorreconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150morþorWiktionary, English murder‘secret slaying’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500murthreWiktionary, English murder‘murder’
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500murderWiktionary, English murder
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1577murderWiktionary, English murder. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1577, Raphaell Holinshed, The Historie of Englande: “In the meane time it chaunced, that Marcus Papyrius…”

The story

From Middle English murder, murdre, mourdre, alteration of earlier murthre (‘murder’) (see murther), from Old English morþor (‘secret slaying, unlawful killing’) and Old English myrþra (‘murder, homicide’), both from Proto-West Germanic *morþr, from Proto-Germanic *murþrą (‘death, killing, murder’), from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥tro- (‘killing’), from Proto-Indo-European *mer-, *mor-, *mr̥- (‘to die’). The -d- in the Middle English form may have been influenced in part by Anglo-Norman murdre, from Old French murdre, from Medieval Latin murdrum (whence the English doublet of murdrum), from Frankish *morþr, *murþr (‘murder’), from the same Germanic root, though this may also have been wholly the result of internal development (compare burden, from burthen and spider, from spiþra).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

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

march, remember, marine, nightmare, maritime, mortality, marsh, mortal, mere, mortar, mare, mara, moor, morbid, mort, morn, muller, ambrosia, marinate, moribund, marinara, maar, cormorant, 62 more

Today it means

noun An act of killing a person unlawfully, especially with predetermination.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “murder”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *murþrą, Proto-West Germanic *morþr, Old English morþor. 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- / murder

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