Etymology: < murk adj. or its Germanic base (see discussion at that entry). Compare Old Icelandic myrkr (genitive myrkrs), Old Swedish myrker (Swedish mörker), and also Shetland Scots mirker darkness ( < the unattested Norn reflex of the early Scandinavian word represented by the Scandinavian forms listed above). Compare also Old Icelandic myrkvi, Old Swedish myrk (Swedish †mörk), Old Swedish myrkia (Swedish †mörka), Danish mørke, in the same sense (all ultimately representing secondary formations from the same Scandinavian base as Old Icelandic myrkr).Rare outside Scots use in 18th and early 19th centuries; compare note s.v. murk adj.

Etymology: Apparently a variant of marc n. N.E.D. (1908) gives the pronunciation as (mɒ̄ɹk) /mɜːk/.

Etymology: Either cognate with Old Saxon mirki , Old Icelandic myrkr (inflected myrkv- ), Norn (Shetland) myrk , Swedish mörk , Danish mørk , or borrowed from early Scandinavian (see below). In Orkney and Shetland use partly directly < Norn. Further etymology uncertain; perhaps related to morn n.It is uncertain whether this word (and the related noun murk n.¹) should be taken to be an early Scandinavian loan on formal grounds, as showing absence of palatalization of c , or whether this development may have been blocked in Old English by a following w (lost by the time of the earliest documented forms): compare thick adj. and n. and see further K. Luick Hist. Gram. der englischen Sprache (1940) I. ii. §637 note 4, and §701 note 2. The adjective and the related noun are both found chiefly in verse in Old English. Rare outside Scots use in 18th and early 19th centuries. In use other than in Scots from later 19th cent. onwards perhaps partly after Scots use and partly (as suggested by frequency of spelling murk as opposed to the usual Scots mirk ) after murky adj.

Etymology: Ultimately imitative; perhaps < a suffixed form (see talk v.) of the Germanic base of Middle Dutch morren , murren (Dutch morren ), Middle Low German murren , Middle High German murren (German murren ), Old Icelandic murra , Old Swedish murra (Swedish morra , murra ), Old Danish murre (Danish murre ), of imitative origin, perhaps ultimately cognate with classical Latin murmurāre murmur v. Compare murken v.In Old English the prefixed form bemurcian to complain, murmur (compare be- prefix), is also attested.

Etymology: Either < early Scandinavian (compare Old Icelandic myrkva to grow dark < the base of myrkr murk adj.), or < murk adj. In 20th-cent. use outside Scotland perhaps re-formed < murk adj. (as perhaps suggested by the form murk ), or after use in Scots; compare note s.v. murk adj.