Etymology

myrrh

M3Y4R1R1H4

Today it means: A red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of a tree of the genus Commiphora, especially Commiphora myrrha, used as perfume, incense or medicine. Full definition →

Middle English mirre ← Old English myrre ← Latin myrrha
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The story

  1. Semitic · derived from
  2. Ancient Greek · derived fromμύρρα
  3. Latin · derived frommyrrha
  4. Old English · inherited frommyrre
  5. Middle English · inherited frommirre
  6. English todaymyrrh

From Middle English mirre, from Old English myrre, from Latin myrrha, from Ancient Greek μύρρα (múrrha), from Semitic. Compare Arabic مُرّ (murr, “myrrh”, literally “bitterness”), Hebrew מור / מֹר (mōr, “myrrh”, literally “bitterness”). Compare מרור : maror.

Words from the same roots

Latinmyrrha all →

myrrha

Ancient Greekμύρρα all →

myrrha

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.