remora

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*mere“to delay, hinder”
2. Latin · borrowed fromremora“delay, hindrance, passive resistance”
3. English todayremora

Borrowed from Latin remora (“delay, hindrance, passive resistance”), from the belief that the fish would attach themselves to ships and slow them down, from re- (prefix meaning ‘back, backwards’) + mora (“delay”) (from Proto-Indo-European *mere (“to delay, hinder”), from *(s)mer- (“to fall into thinking, remember; to care for”)).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from mid 16th c. Any of various elongate fish from the family Echeneidae, the dorsal fin of which is in the form of a suction disc that can take a firm hold against the skin of larger marine animals.