Etymology: < Irish muruach, murúch < Early Irish murdúchann siren < muir sea (see mere n.¹) + dúchann song, melody (further etymology unknown). Eng. Dial. Dict. gives the pronunciation as /ˈmərə/.

Etymology: Cognate with Middle Dutch maru, meru, merwe (Dutch regional (West Flanders) merf) soft, weak, Old High German marawi, maro soft, breakable (Middle High German mar, inflected marw-), Old Icelandic merja to smash, meyrr tender; all apparently < the o-grade of a Germanic base in which a terminal element in -i- was variably present, with consequent variability of i-mutation in the descendent languages.A number of forms have been regarded as possible or probable reflexes of other ablaut variants of the same Germanic base, e.g. from the e-grade Old Swedish mör , Faroese moyrur , Norwegian (Nynorsk) møyr , Old Danish mjør gentle, soft, and from the zero-grade Middle Dutch meurw , morw , morwe weak, delicate (Dutch murw ), Middle Low German morve , Old High German muruwi , murwi soft, young (Middle High German mür , müre , mürwe , German mürb , mürbe ). Of the more distant connections which have been suggested with other language groups, the least insecure appears to be the link with Early Irish meirb , Welsh merf insipid, lifeless (14th cent.); while some etymologists of Germanic have also hypothesized links with, e.g., classical Latin morbus disease (see morbid adj.) or ancient Greek μαραίνειν to wither, waste away (see marasmus n.), these suggestions have not usually convinced etymologists of Latin and Greek. For a possible later by-form in English, see also mellow adj.