murder

Where does the word "murder" come from? It comes from Old English morþor, passing through Anglo-Norman before entering English (1300s).

Murder’s story begins in Old English: morþor meant “secret killing.” A native Germanic word for secret killing; Anglo-Saxon law let open killings be settled with a payment (wergild), but murder could not be. By 1100s, the word had taken hold in Anglo-Norman as murdrum. Law French and Latin form, from Frankish; after 1066 the Normans fined any district where a Norman was found secretly killed, a penalty called the murdrum. It reached English by 1300s as murder. The Norman -d- replaced the native -th-; Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 became the most notorious of the age. Today, murder means the unlawful premeditated killing of one person by another.

1. Stage 1 · Old English · medieval morþor "secret killing", a native Germanic word for secret killing; Anglo-Saxon law let open killings be settled with a payment (wergild), but murder could not be.
2. Stage 2 · Anglo-Norman · 1100s murdrum "secret homicide; the fine for it", Law French and Latin form, from Frankish; after 1066 the Normans fined any district where a Norman was found secretly killed, a penalty called the murdrum.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1300s murder "unlawful premeditated killing", the Norman -d- replaced the native -th-; Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170 became the most notorious of the age.