† mourkenv.

Etymology: < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic morkna , Norwegian morkna , Swedish murkna ) < the Scandinavian base of the first element of Icelandic morkinn rotten (cognate with Middle High German murc rotten, Early Irish meirc (Irish meirg , Scottish Gaelic meirg ) rust, perhaps also Breton mergl rust; ultimately related to the Indo-European base of classical Latin marcēre to wither (see marcid adj.)) + the Scandinavian base of Icelandic -na -en suffix⁵.R. J. Menner's 1920 edition of Cleanness gives the word as morkne, but the manuscript indicates a scribal contraction of u. Compare Shetland Scots murken (of grain or hay) to become musty or mouldy (attested from the early 20th cent.), which probably represents an independent borrowing from Norn, ultimately from the same Scandinavian base.