Re: mora

Emily wrote:
"now i'm confused. i think this might be a mis-appropriation - what
might be termed a 'faux ami' or false cognate. can anyone corroborate
either the first use of MORA or the native japanese meaning thereof?"

FWIW, the OED (3rd Edition) identifies the word with the Latin mora:

"classical Latin mora delay, (in legal context) delay in fulfilling a legal
duty, (in grammar) pause in speech or verse generally indicated by
punctuation, sustaining of the voice in the pronunciation of a syllable,
cognate with Old Irish maraim remain"

Gives the linguistic definition as "The smallest or basic unit of duration
of a speech sound" and gives the first attestation of the word (according to
this definition) as a 1933 Language article:

"1933 L. BLOOMFIELD Language vii. 110 In dealing with matters of quantity,
it is often convenient to set up an arbitrary unit of relative duration, the
mora. Thus, if we say that a short vowel lasts one mora, we may describe the
long vowels of the same language as lasting, say, one and one-half morae or
two morae."

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