LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · masculinesecond declension

mūrus

mūrus m (genitive mūrī)
Classical[ˈmuː.rʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈmuː.rus]
№ 508 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. wall, city wall(s), (usually of a city, as opposed to pariēs)
    Dīvidimus mūrōs et moenia pandimus urbis.“We breach the walls and lay open the defenses of the city.”29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.234
  2. dialectalmounds made without ditches
    Aggeres faciunt sine fossa: eos quidam vocant muros, ut in agro Reatino.They make mounds with ditches. Some call these walls, as in the region of Reate116 BCE – 27 BCE, Marcus Terentius Varro, Res Rustica 1.14

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

quod domum circumdat et sustinet; mūrī ex saxō vel latere fīunt.
mūrus -ī m — in Mille Verba, Domus et Familia

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Murus · Paries · Mœnia · Maceria · Parietinæ · Munimenta

1. Murus (μοῖρα, μείρω,) denotes any sort of wall, merely with reference to its form, without reference to its use, like τεῖχος; paries (πείρω) especially a wall, as the side of a building, or as a partition to separate the rooms, like τοῖχος; mœnia (ἀμύνω) the walls of a city, as a defence against the enemy, like περίβολος? maceria, the wall of an enclosure, to mark the boundaries and to exclude thieves, the garden or vineyard wall, like θριγκός. Virg. Æn. vi. 549. Mœnia lata videt triplici circumdata muro. And Flor. i. 4. Vitruv. viii. 4. Tac. Ann. xv. 43. Nero instituit, ut urbis domus non communione parietum, sed propriis quæque muris ambirentur. 2. Muri, mœnia, etc., are walls in a good condition; parietinæ, walls that are falling into ruins. 3. Mœnia denote walls as a defence of a city against a first assault; munimenta, the proper fortifications of fortresses and camps, which are of themselves a bulwark against being taken by storm. (v. 350.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativemūrusmūrī
genitivemūrīmūrōrum
dativemūrōmūrīs
accusativemūrummūrōs
ablativemūrōmūrīs
vocativemūremūrī

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

se deicere de muro
to throw oneself from the ramparts.
murum nudare defensoribus
to drive the defenders from the walls.
positis scalis muros ascendere
to scale the walls by means of ladders.
aries murum attingit, percutit
the battering-ram strikes the wall.

mūrus (archaic orthogr. moerus, Varr. L. L. 5, 32, § 41 Müll.; Enn. ap. Serv. Verg. G. 1, 18, or Ann. v. 376 Vahl.; Verg. A. 10, 24:
I. moirus, Inscr. Orell. 566), i, m. from root mū-; cf.: moenia, munis, a wall; esp. a city wall; mostly in plur. (class.; cf.: moenia, paries, maceria).
I. Lit.: muri urbis, Cic. N. D. 3, 40, 94: Helvii intra oppida murosque compelluntur, Caes. B. G. 7, 65: instruere, Nep. Th. 6, 4: ducere, Verg. A. 1, 423: aedificare, Ov. M. 11, 204: marmoreus, a balcony, Calp. Ecl. 7, 48.—Also, the wall of a building, Cic. Att. 2, 4, 7: sanctae res, veluti muri et portae, quodammodo divini juris sunt, Gai. Inst. 2, 9.—
B. Transf.
1. A bank, mound, dam, Varr. R. R. 1, 14, 3.—
2. The rim or side of a pot or boiler: quae tenui muro spatiosum colligat orbem, Juv. 4, 132.—
3. The wooden tower of an elephant, Sil. 9, 601.—
4. The head-dress of Cybele, ornamented with towers: crinalis, Claud. in. Eutr. 2, 284.—
II. Trop., a wall, a safeguard, protection, defence (rare but class.): lex Aelia et Fufia, propugnacula murique tranquillitatis, Cic. Pis. 4, 9: Graiūm murus Achilles, Ov. M. 13, 280: cor munitum costarum et pectoris muro, Plin. 11, 37, 69, § 181: hic murus aëneus esto, Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 60.

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*mey-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*moyros
  3. Proto-Italic*moiros
  4. Latinmūrus

From Proto-Italic *moiros, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to fix, to build fortifications or fences”), see also Latin mūnīre (“to protect”), Old Norse -mæri (“border-land, boundary”), Old English mære (“landmark, border, boundary”). See also Sanskrit मुर् (múr, “wall”), Sanskrit मुर (mura, “surrounding, encircling, enclosing”).

Southern Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanmur
  • Occitanmur
  • Occitanmura
Ibero-Romance
  • Portuguesemuro
  • Spanishmuro
  • Galicianmuro
  • Falamuru
Balkan Romance
  • Romanianmur
  • Aromanianmur
  • Albanianmur
Italo-Romance
  • Italianmuro
  • Sicilianmuru
Northern Gallo-Romance
  • Frenchmurfrom Old French mur
  • Franco-Provençalmur
  • Bourguignonmeurfrom Old French mur
  • Normanmurfrom Old French mur
  • Walloonmeur
Insular Romance
  • Sardinianmuru
Elsewhere
  • Englishmurus
  • Irishmúrfrom Old Irish múr
  • Scottish Gaelicmùrfrom Old Irish múr
  • Bretonmurfrom Proto-Brythonic *mʉr
  • Welshmurfrom Proto-Brythonic *mʉr
  • Proto-West Germanic*mūrā
  • Slovakmúr
Dalmatian
  • unknownmor
  • unknownmoir
Padanian
  • Emilianmûr
  • Friulianmûr
  • Romanshmir
  • Romanshmür
  • Romanshmeir
  • Venetanmuro
  • Venetanmur

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesMurusMurus, MOENIA (τεῖχος), a wall surrounding an unroofed enclosure, in contradistinction to PARIES (τοῖχος), the wall of a roofed building, such as a te…

Quick answers

What does mūrus mean in Latin?
mūrus, a noun, means “wall, city wall(s), (usually of a city, as opposed to pariēs); mounds made without ditches”.
What is the genitive of mūrus?
The genitive singular is mūrī. mūrus is masculine, second declension.
How do you pronounce mūrus?
In classical Latin, [ˈmuː.rʊs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈmuː.rus].
Where does mūrus come from?
Proto-Indo-European *mey- → Proto-Indo-European *moyros → Proto-Italic *moiros → Latin mūrus.