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Etymology of moron and idiot. | ||
Tags: Etymology | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6034 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes  5 sounds | Message 2 of 12 19 October 2008 at 4:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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So J.R.R Tolkien's underground dwarven city of Moria actually translates as "stupidity". That is a curious thing to know. Edited by Sennin on 19 October 2008 at 4:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ChristopherB Triglot Senior Member New Zealand Joined 6316 days ago 851 posts - 1074 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English*, German, French | Message 3 of 12 23 October 2008 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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Glad I saw this thread, I was thinking about this just the other day. Meant to check my little handy etymological dictionary I have, but I kept forgetting.
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| Morada Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5895 days ago 22 posts - 23 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Mandarin | Message 4 of 12 23 October 2008 at 8:03pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like these posts you do, because it reminds us that much of our language, and many of the other romance languages have strong backgrounds in Latin and Greek. Which isn't any suprise, since both of them had great empires in ancient times!
In this respect I love seeing the path through languages and history words take. I suppose this is what makes the different families of languages. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| FrancescoP Octoglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5950 days ago 169 posts - 258 votes Speaks: Italian*, French, English, German, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, Norwegian Studies: Georgian, Japanese, Croatian, Greek | Message 5 of 12 24 October 2008 at 1:43am | IP Logged | ||
No, actually I guess Tolkien picked up the name "Moria" from Scandinavian folklore. A famous Norwegian folktale is called "Soria Moria Slott", the castle of Soria Moria. I bet it's where it comes from. The "mr" root makes me think about genuine Old Norse material that accidentally happens to recall the Greek word. No reasons to wonder about the poor dwarves' IQ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 12 24 October 2008 at 3:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't seen the name Moria anywhere in Norse mythology, and this Wiki-page doesn't indicate a Nordic source. But the other 'Morias' aren't too convincing either so it is difficult to point to better source. The (public) names of most of the dwarwes come from Norse mythology, but maybe Tolkien for once invented the name of their abode.
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| Alkeides Senior Member Bhutan Joined 6148 days ago 636 posts - 644 votes | Message 7 of 12 24 October 2008 at 10:54am | IP Logged | ||
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Mor- in Moria comes from the same root as Mordor, that is, "darkness, dark, black".
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| FrancescoP Octoglot Senior Member Italy Joined 5950 days ago 169 posts - 258 votes Speaks: Italian*, French, English, German, Latin, Ancient Greek, Russian, Norwegian Studies: Georgian, Japanese, Croatian, Greek | Message 8 of 12 24 October 2008 at 1:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I thought so. And it kind of reminds me of mørke (darkness) and similar words...
Which does point towards a scandinavian etymology in a way or another 1 person has voted this message useful |
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