Wiktionary

murmur

English edit

Etymology edit

From Middle English murmur, murmor, murmour, from Old French murmure (modern French murmure), from Latin murmur (“murmur, humming, muttering, roaring, growling, rushing etc.”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

murmur (countable and uncountable, plural murmurs)

  1. (countable, uncountable) Any low, indistinct sound, like that of running water.
    • 1854, Narrative of a Journey Round the Dead Sea, and in the Bible Lands:
      The delightful murmur of water running over pebbles is heard a few yards off
    • 1979: A translation of the Eclogues by Paul Alpers
      The windy murmur of the breeze subsides.
  2. (countable, uncountable) Soft indistinct speech.
    A murmur arose from the audience.
    • 1874, Marcus Clarke, chapter V, in For the Term of His Natural Life:
      In the prison of the 'tween decks reigned a darkness pregnant with murmurs. The sentry at the entrance to the hatchway was supposed to "prevent the prisoners from making a noise," but he put a very liberal interpretation upon the clause, and so long as the prisoners refrained from shouting, yelling, and fighting--eccentricities in which they sometimes indulged--he did not disturb them.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XI, in Jeeves in the Offing:
      The moment had come for the honeyed word. I lowered my voice to a confidential murmur, but on her inquiring if I had laryngitis raised it again.
  3. (cardiology, medicine) The sound made by any condition which produces noisy, or turbulent, flow of blood through the heart.
  4. A muttered complaint or protest; the expression of dissatisfaction in a low muttering voice; any expression of complaint or discontent.
    • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress:
      In fear of disease and in the interest of his health man will be muzzled and masked like a vicious dog, and that without any murmur of complaint.
    • 2004, Euan A. Ashley, Josef Niebauer, Cardiology Explained:
      Since aortic diastolic pressure is higher than pulmonary artery systolic pressure, there is continuous flow into the pulmonary circulation, creating the characteristic continuous ("machinery") murmur, heard best just below the left clavicle.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing:
      Glossop will return from his afternoon off to find the awful majesty of the Law waiting for him, complete with handcuffs. We can hardly expect him to accept an exemplary sentence without a murmur, so his first move will be to establish his innocence by revealing all.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb edit

murmur (third-person singular simple present murmurs, present participle murmuring, simple past and past participle murmured)

  1. (intransitive, now rare) To grumble; to complain in a low, muttering voice, or express discontent at or against someone or something. [from 14th c.]
  2. (intransitive) To speak or make low, indistinguishable noise; to mumble, mutter. [from 14th c.]
    I couldn't hear the words; he just murmured a lot.
    The bees murmured in the forest. The waves murmured on the shore.
    • 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 7, in A Cuckoo in the Nest:
      “Oh yes,” he murmured in a tone of obligatory surprise, as he proceeded to make the kind of 2 which he attributed to Margaret's style of chirography.
  3. (transitive) To say (something) indistinctly, to mutter. [from 15th c.]

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

References edit

Further reading edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Indo-European *mormur-, *mur- (“to mutter”). Reduplication points to imitative, onomatopoeic origin. Cognate with Sanskrit मर्मर (marmara, “rustling sound, murmur”), Ancient Greek μορμύρω (mormúrō, “to roar, boil”), Lithuanian mùrmėti (“to mutter, murmur, babble”), Old High German murmurōn, murmulōn (“to mumble, murmur”), Old Norse murra (“to grumble, mumble”), Old Armenian մռմռամ (mṙmṙam).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

murmur n (genitive murmuris); third declension

  1. murmur, murmuring
  2. humming, roaring, rumbling, growling, grumbling
    • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.55–56:
      Illī indignantēs magnō cum murmure montis
      circum claustra fremunt; [...].
      Those [stormwinds] resenting [their confinement]: With a mighty rumbling of the mountain all around, [against] locked gates they rage.
      (Evocative word-sounds convey fantastical noises caused by trapped winds: the alliteration of repeated “m’s” for menacing rumbling, and onomatopoeia using hard “c’s” to personify angry winds clanging their cages.)
  3. rushing, crashing

Declension edit

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative murmur murmura
Genitive murmuris murmurum
Dative murmurī murmuribus
Accusative murmur murmura
Ablative murmure murmuribus
Vocative murmur murmura

Descendants edit

References edit

  • “murmur”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “murmur”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Middle English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old French murmure, from Latin murmur.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

murmur (plural murmurs)

  1. A whining, protesting or complaining in the background; murmuring.
  2. (rare) Background noise or sounds.

Descendants edit

References edit

Romanian edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Verb edit

murmur

  1. first-person singular present indicative/subjunctive of murmura

Etymology 2 edit

Borrowed from Latin murmur or French murmure.

Noun edit

murmur n (plural murmure)

  1. a murmur
Declension edit
Declension of murmur
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) murmur murmurul (niște) murmure murmurele
genitive/dative (unui) murmur murmurului (unor) murmure murmurelor
vocative murmurule murmurelor
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