mulier

English

Etymology

From Latin mulier (“woman”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmjuː.lɪə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

mulier (plural muliers)

1. (law, historical) A child born lawfully in wedlock, in distinction from an elder sibling born of the same parents before their marriage.
   • 1908, Alfred John Horwood, Luke Owen Pike, Year books of the reign of King Edward the Third: Volume 15:

     Or suppose an inquest were taken between us, and it were found that they are muliers, for which reason the voucher stood, and they came and pleaded the same exception to escape from warranting as heirs, then two inquests would be taken […]

Related terms

• mulierty

Related terms

• muliebrity

References

• “mulier”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Muriel

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *moljes, of uncertain origin; it has been proposed that it might derive from mollior, comparative of mollis (“soft, tender”). Others propose it might be akin to mulgere and therefore mean “the milk-giver”. Contamination within either of these two terms can be possible.

The former is from Isidore's Etymologies: "Mulier vero a mollitie, tanquam mollier, detracta littera vel mutata, appellata est mulier".

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.li.er/, [ˈmʊlʲiɛr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmu.li.er/, [ˈmuːlier]

Noun

mulier f (genitive mulieris); third declension

1. a woman, female

   Synonyms: fēmina, (hapax, mentioning, Old Latin) vira

   • c. 161 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Phormio 5.9:

     mulier sapiēns es, Nausistrata.

     You are a wise woman, Nausistrata.

2. (by extension) a wife

   Synonyms: uxor, nūpta, coniūnx, mātrōna

   Antonym: marītus

3. (figuratively) a coward, poltroon
4. (Medieval Latin) a virgin adult

Usage notes

A mulier was a woman who was married in contrast with a virgo (“unmarried woman of a marriageable age”). Thus, if a noble young girl of age 12 got married, she would be called a mulier even though by today's standards, we would not call this girl a "woman". In contrast, if a common young woman of age 19 or 21 was still unmarried, she often was still called a virgo despite being much older than that young noble girl married at age 12.

If an older woman for whatever reason was not married off, she could be called a mulier too, so it is not a term used exclusively for married women.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	mulier	mulierēs
genitive	mulieris	mulierum
dative	mulierī	mulieribus
accusative	mulierem	mulierēs
ablative	muliere	mulieribus
vocative	mulier	mulierēs

Derived terms

• muliebris
• muliebritās
• muliebriter
• muliebrōsus
• mulierārius
• muliercula
• mulierculārius
• mulieritās
• mulierō
• mulierōsitās
• mulierōsus

 

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: muljari, muljare, muljeari, muljeare, mljari, mljare, muieri
  • Istro-Romanian: muľerĕ
  • Megleno-Romanian: muľari
  • Romanian: muiere
• Dalmatian:
  • mojer, molier, moler, mulir (Ragusan dialect)
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: moglie, mogliera (Tuscan), muglieri (archaic)
  • Neapolitan: mugliera
  • Sicilian: mugghieri, muggheri, muglieri
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: muzere, mulleri (Campidanese)
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: mujer, mujera
    • Old Ligurian: moier
    • Old Lombard: muglier
      • Lombard: mié
      • →? Romansch: muglier
    • Piedmontese: mujé
    • Romagnol: mój, mujéṟ (Central Romagna)
  • Friulian: muîr
  • Istriot: muier
  • Venetan: mojer, mojere
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Francoprovençal: moillier, muillier
    • Franco-Provençal: mulyer
  • Old French: muiler, moylier, muillier, mulier, moillier
    • Middle French: muillier, molier (hapax)
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: muyller, muyler, muller, muyer, muler
    • Catalan: muller
  • Old Occitan: molher
    • Occitan: molhèr
    • → Middle French: moulhé
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: muller
  • Old Leonese: muyer, mujer (Salamanca), muller (Asturias)
    • Asturian: muyer
    • Leonese: muyer, muyere
    • Mirandese: mulhier
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: moller, muller, molher
    • Fala: mullel
    • Galician: muller
    • Portuguese: mulher (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Spanish: mugier, muger, muller
    • Ladino: mujer
    • Spanish: mujer
• Borrowings:
  • → English: mulier

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “mŭlier”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 6/3: Mobilis–Myxa, page 200
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 393

Further reading

• “mulier”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mulier”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mulier in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.