mortuus

Latin

Etymology

Perfect active participle of morior (“die”). Corresponds to Proto-Italic *mortwos, from Proto-Indo-European *mr̥twós, *mr̥tós (“dead, mortal”), *mr̥tó-, ultimately from *mer- (“to die”) + *-wós (whence Latin -uus). Compare Ancient Greek βροτός (brotós), Sanskrit मृत (mṛtá), Old Church Slavonic мрътвъ (mrŭtvŭ), Old Armenian մարդ (mard).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmor.tu.us/, [ˈmɔrt̪uʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmor.tu.us/, [ˈmɔrt̪uːs]

Participle

mortuus (feminine mortua, neuter mortuum); first/second-declension participle

1. dead, having died.

   Synonyms: exanimis, dēfūnctus

   Antonym: vīvus

   • Vulgata—Epistula ad Galatas 2.21:

     Si enim per legem justitia, ergo gratis Christus mortuus est.

     If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

2. decayed, withered
3. (figuratively) faint, overwhelmed.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	mortuus	mortua	mortuum		mortuī	mortuae	mortua
Genitive	mortuī	mortuae	mortuī		mortuōrum	mortuārum	mortuōrum
Dative	mortuō		mortuō		mortuīs
Accusative	mortuum	mortuam	mortuum		mortuōs	mortuās	mortua
Ablative	mortuō	mortuā	mortuō		mortuīs
Vocative	mortue	mortua	mortuum		mortuī	mortuae	mortua

Related terms

• morior
• mors

Descendants

• Aromanian: mortu
• Asturian: muertu
• Catalan: mort
• Dalmatian: muart
• Franco-Provençal: môrt
• Friulian: muart
• Galician: morto
• Italian: morto
• Ladin: mort
• Neapolitan: muorto
• Old French: mort
  • Middle French: mort
    • French: mort
    • Norman: mort
• Occitan: mòrt
• Piedmontese: mòrt
• Portuguese: morto
• Romanian: mort
• Romansch: miert, mort
• Sardinian: moltu, mortu
• Sicilian: mortu
• Spanish: muerto, muerta
• Venetian: morto

Noun

mortuus m (genitive mortuī); second declension

1. a dead person, dead man
2. a corpse, dead body

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mortuus	mortuī
Genitive	mortuī	mortuōrum
Dative	mortuō	mortuīs
Accusative	mortuum	mortuōs
Ablative	mortuō	mortuīs
Vocative	mortue	mortuī

See also

• corpus

References

• “mortuus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mortuus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mortuus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• mortuus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to entomb a dead body: mortuum in sepulcro condere
    
  • to burn a corpse: aliquem mortuum cremare (Sen. 23. 84)
    
  • to summon some one from the dead: aliquem ab inferis or a mortuis evocare, excitare (passive ab inferis exsistere)
    
  • the last wishes of a deceased person: alicuius mortui voluntas (suprema)