Where does “mortal” come from?

Mortal comes from Middle English mortel, from Latin mortalis, derived from Latin mors meaning death, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European mer- meaning to die.

mortal (English): Susceptible to death by aging, sickness, injury,...

Definitions

  1. Susceptible to death by aging, sickness, injury,...

Ancestry of “mortal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishmortal—
2Old Frenchmortal—
3Latinmortālismortal (subject to death)
4Latinmorsdeath; corpse; annihilation
5Proto-Italicmortisdeath
6Proto-Indo-Europeanmértisdeath
7Proto-Indo-Europeanmer-to die; to disappear; sea, lake, wetland

Words derived from “mortal”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European mer- →
mortal — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer