noun · neuterthird declension
murmur
murmur n (genitive murmuris)
Classical[ˈmʊr.mʊr]Ecclesiastical[ˈmur.mur]
Meaning
- neutermurmur, murmuring
At īnfēlīcibus servīs movēre labra nē in hōc quidem ut loquantur, licet; virgā murmur omne compescitur, [...].
(The slaves who must stand near the master at dinnertime:) Meanwhile, the miserable slaves aren’t even allowed to move their lips to speak. Every murmur is silenced by a rod.c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca Minor, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 47.3 - neuterhumming, roaring, rumbling, growling, grumbling
Illī indignantēs magnō cum murmure montis circum claustra fremunt; [...].
Those [stormwinds] resenting [their confinement]: With a mighty rumbling of the mountain all around, [against] locked gates they rage. (Evocative word-sounds convey fantastical noises caused by trapped winds: the alliteration of repeated “m’s” for menacing rumbling, and onomatopoeia using hard “c’s” to personify angry winds clanging their cages.)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.55–56 - neuterrushing, crashing
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
sonus multōrum simul loquentiummurmur -uris (n) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 2, 21
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | murmur | murmura |
| genitive | murmuris | murmurum |
| dative | murmurī | murmuribus |
| accusative | murmur | murmura |
| ablative | murmure | murmuribus |
| vocative | murmur | murmura |
murmur, ŭris, n. (m.: murmur fit verus, Varr. ap. Non. 214, 14) [Sanscr. marmara, susurrus, murmur, and the Greek μορμύρω and μυρμύρω],
I. a murmur, murmuring; a humming, roaring, growling, grumbling; a rushing, crashing, etc. (class.;
syn.: fremitus, strepitus, fragor, stridor, susurrus): murmur populi, Liv. 45, 1: serpitque per agmina murmur. Verg. A. 12, 239: quanto porrexit murmure panem, Juv. 5, 67.—Of prayer, a low, indistinct tone: quos ubi placavit precibus et murmure longo, Ov. M. 7, 251; Juv. 10, 290.—Of the humming of bees: strepit omnis murmure campus, Verg. A. 6, 709.—Of the roar of a lion, Mart. 8, 55, 1; of the tiger: tigridis Hyrcanae jejunum murmur, Stat. Th. 12, 170.—Of inanimate things, a murmur, roar, rushing, crashing, crash, rumbling: nam et odor urbanitatis, et mollitudo humanitatis, et murmur maris, et dulcedo orationis sunt ducta a ceteris sensibus, Cic. de Or. 3, 40, 161: dare, to roar, Lucr. 6, 142: magno misceri murmure caelum, Verg. A. 4, 160: ventosum, the rushing wind, id. E. 9, 58.—Of thunder: exanimes primo murmure caeli, Juv. 13, 224.—Of a volcanic mountain: Aetnaei verticis, Suet. Calig. 51.—Of an earthquake, a roaring, rumbling: praecedit sonus, alias murmuri similis, alias mugitibus, aut clamori humano, armorumve pulsantium fragori, Plin. 2, 80, 82, § 193.—Of wind-instruments: cornuum, the sound, Hor. C. 2, 1, 17: inflati buxi, of the tibia, Ov. M. 14, 537: aurium, a singing in the ears, Plin. 28, 7, 21, § 75 (Jahn, animalia).—Trop.: contemnere murmura famae, Prop. 2, 5, 29; of a muttering, rebellious murmur: contra Dominum, Vulg. Exod. 16, 7; id. Act. 6, 1.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
murmur uris, n
a murmur, murmuring, hum, roar, growling, grumbling, crash: populi, L.: serpitque per agmina murmur, V.: pro verbis murmura reddunt, roars (of lions), O.: strepit omnis murmure campus, hum (of bees), V.: maris: ventosum, the rushing wind, V.: exanimes primo murmure caeli, i. e. thunder, Iu.: cornuum, sound, H.: inflati buxi, i. e. of the tibia, O.
Origins
From Proto-Indo-European *mormur-, *mur- (“to mutter”). Reduplication points to imitative, onomatopoeic origin of the root. Cognate with Sanskrit मर्मर (marmara, “rustling sound, murmur”), Ancient Greek μορμύρω (mormúrō, “to roar, boil”), Lithuanian mùrmėti (“to mutter, murmur, babble”), Old High German murmurōn, murmulōn (“to mumble, murmur”), Old Norse murra (“to grumble, mumble”), Old Armenian մռմռամ (mṙmṙam).
Descendants
- Englishmurmur
- Frenchmurmure
- Italianmormorio
- Portuguesemurmúrio
- Spanishmurmullo
- Spanishmurmurio
- Spanishmurmuro
- Irishmonabhar