An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/mürbe

by Friedrich Kluge

mürbe, adjective, ‘tender,’ from Middle High German mürwe, mür, Old High German muruwi, murwi, adjective, ‘tender, mellow’; also, with the same sense, Old High German marawi, maro, Middle High German mar (inflected marwer), Anglo-Saxon mearu. The root mar appears further in Greek μαραίνω, ‘to cause to wither,’ Sanscrit mlâ, ‘to fade’; also in Old Irish meirb, ‘soft.’