Where does “Maurice” come from?
Maurice comes from Late Latin Mauritius, derived from Latin Maurus, which was borrowed from Ancient Greek Μαῦρος or Μαυρός, originally referring to a person from Mauretania.
Ancestry of “Maurice”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | Maurice | — |
| 2 | Latin | Mauritius | — |
| 3 | Latin | maurus | Moorish, North African |
| 4 | French | maure | Moorish |
| 5 | Middle French | moré | Moor (person of Berber descent) |
| 6 | Old French | More | — |
| 7 | Latin | Maurus | Of or pertaining to the Moors; Moorish,... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | Μαυρούσιος | an inhabitant of Mauretania; a Mauretanian |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | -ούσιος | forms relational adjectives: of or pertaining to |
| 10 | Ancient Greek | -ῐος | belonging to; of”, “belonging to”, “pertaining to |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -yós | Creates adjectives from noun or verb stems |