Editing Murder (section)

==Etymology==
The modern English word "murder" descends from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] ''*mŕ̥-trom'' which meant "killing", a noun derived from ''*mer-'' "to die".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bynon|first1=Theodora|title=Historical Linguistics|date=1977|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0521291880|url=https://archive.org/details/historicallingui0000byno|url-access=registration|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref>

[[Proto-Germanic]], in fact, had two nouns derived from this word, later merging into the modern English noun: ''*murþrą'' "death, killing, murder" (directly from Proto-Indo-European''*mŕ̥-trom''), whence [[Old English]] ''morðor'' "secret or unlawful killing of a person, murder; mortal sin, crime; punishment, torment, misery";<ref>[https://www.etymonline.com/word/murder#etymonline_v_19282 "Murder"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707012418/https://www.etymonline.com/word/murder#etymonline_v_19282 |date=2020-07-07 }}, in: ''Online Etymology Dictionary'', accessed on 17 July 2020.</ref> and ''*murþrijô'' "murderer; homicide" (from the verb ''*murþrijaną'' "to murder"), giving Old English ''myrþra'' "homicide, murder; murderer". There was a third word for "murder" in Proto-Germanic, continuing Proto-Indo-European ''*mr̥tós'' "dead" (compare [[Latin]] ''mors''), giving Proto-Germanic ''*murþą'' "death, killing, murder" and Old English ''morþ'' "death, crime, murder" (compare German ''Mord'').

The ''-d-'' first attested in [[Middle English]] ''mordre, mourdre, murder, murdre'' could have been influenced by [[Old French]] ''murdre'', itself derived from the Germanic noun via [[Frankish language|Frankish]] ''*murþra'' (compare [[Old High German]] ''murdreo, murdiro''), though the same sound development can be seen with ''burden'' (from ''burthen''). The alternative ''murther'' (attested up to the 19th century) springs directly from the Old English forms. Middle English ''mordre'' is a verb from Anglo-Saxon ''myrðrian'' from Proto-Germanic ''*murþrijaną'', or, according to the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', from the noun.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nielson|first1=William A.|last2=Patch|first2=Howard R.|title=Selections from Chaucer|date=1921|publisher=Harcourt, Brace & Co.|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JTtLAAAAIAAJ|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref>