different between murmur vs wail

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??.m?(?)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?m?.m?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)m?(?)

Noun

murmur (countable and uncountable, plural murmurs)

1. (countable, uncountable) Any low, indistinct sound, like that of running water.
2. (countable, uncountable) Soft indistinct speech.

   A murmur arose from the audience.

   • 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of His Natural Life, chapter V:

     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, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI:

     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.

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XX:

     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.

Translations

Verb

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.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, John 6:41:

     The Iewes then murmured at him because he sayde: I am that breed which is come doune from heaven.

2. (intransitive) To speak or make low, indistinguishable noise; to mumble, mutter. [from 14th c.]
3. (transitive) To say (something) indistinctly, to mutter. [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 1, Act II, Scene 3, line 51,^[1]

     I […] heard thee murmur tales of iron wars;

   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, Chapter 21,^[2]

     Gabriel murmured a confused reply, and hastened on.

   • 1942, Lloyd C. Douglas, The Robe, Chapter 7,^[3]

     With a husky voice she murmured that he was the very dearest grandfather anyone ever had.

   • 1978, Andrew Holleran, Dancer from the Dance, New York: New American Library, 1986, Chapter 4, p. 105,^[4]

     “ […] Don’t look now,” he murmured, lowering his eyes demurely, “but the most handsome man in Brookfield, Connecticut, has just walked in the room.”

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:mutter

Derived terms

Translations

References

• murmur in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “murmur”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000

Further reading

• heart murmur on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *mormur-, *mur- (“to mutter”). Reduplication points to imitative, onomatopoeic origin. Cognate with Sanskrit ????? (marmara, “rustling sound, murmur”), Ancient Greek ??????? (mormúr?, “to roar, boil”), Lithuanian mùrm?ti (“to mutter, murmur, babble”), Old High German murmur?n, murmul?n (“to mumble, murmur”), Old Norse murra (“to grumble, mumble”), Old Armenian ?????? (m?m?am).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?mur.mur/, [?m?rm?r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?mur.mur/, [?murmur]

Noun

murmur n (genitive murmuris); third declension

1. murmur, murmuring
2. humming, roaring, growling, grumbling
3. rushing, crashing

Declension

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

Descendants

• English: murmur
• French: murmure
• Irish: monabhar
• Italian: mormorio
• Portuguese: murmúrio
• Spanish: murmullo, murmurio, murmuro

References

• 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

Alternative forms

• murmure, murmour, murmour, murmor

Etymology

From Old French murmure, from Latin murmur.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?murmur/

Noun

murmur (plural murmurs)

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

Descendants

• English: murmur

References

• “murmur(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-20.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?murmur]

Verb

murmur

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

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?l, IPA^(key): /we?l/, [we??]
• Rhymes: -e?l
• Homophone: wale
• Homophone: whale (in accents with the wine-whine merger)

Etymology 1

c. 1300, Middle English weilen, waylen (“to sob, cry, wail”), from Old Norse væla (“to wail”), from væ, vei (“woe”), from Proto-Germanic *wai (whence also Old English w? (“woe”) (English woe)), from Proto-Indo-European *wai.

The verb is first attested in the intransitive sense; the transitive sense developed in mid-14^th c.. The noun came from the verb.

Verb

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (intransitive) To cry out, as in sorrow or anguish.
2. (intransitive) To weep, lament persistently or bitterly.
3. (intransitive) To make a noise like mourning or crying.

4. (transitive) To lament; to bewail; to grieve over.
5. (slang, music) To perform with great liveliness and force.

Derived terms

• bewail
• wailer
• wailingly

Translations

Noun

wail (plural wails)

1. A prolonged cry, usually high-pitched, especially as of grief or anguish. [from 15^th c.]

2. Any similar sound as of lamentation; a howl.

3. A sound made by emergency vehicle sirens, contrasted with "yelp" which is higher-pitched and faster.

Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Old Norse val (“choice”). Compare Icelandic velja (“to choose”). More at wale.

Verb

wail (third-person singular simple present wails, present participle wailing, simple past and past participle wailed)

1. (obsolete) Synonym of wale (“to choose; to select”)
   • c. 1500, Robert Henryson, Template:The Testament of Cresseid

     Wailed wine and metes

References

• wail in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• wail in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• wail at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• wali, wila, w?li

Asilulu

Noun

wail

1. water

References

• James T. Collins, The Historical Relationships of the Languages of Central Maluku, Indonesia (1983), page 70

Cebuano

Etymology

Blend of wala (“not”) +? ilhi (“known, recognized”)

Pronunciation

• (General Cebuano) IPA^(key): /?wa?il?/
• Rhymes: -il?
• Hyphenation: wa?il

Noun

wail

1. an insignificant person
2. an unknown person or thing
3. an unknown celebrity or politician