Moirai - Etymology

Etymology

The Ancient Greek word moira (μοίρα) means a portion or lot of the whole, and is related to meros, "part, lot" and moros, "fate, doom", Latin meritum, "desert, reward", English merit, derived from the PIE root *(s)mer, "to allot, assign".

Moira may mean portion or share on the distribution of booty (ίση μοίρα, isi moira, "equal booty"), portion in life, lot, destiny, (μοίρα έθηκαν αθάνατοι, moiran ethikan athanatoi, "the immortals fixed the destiny") death -moros- (μοίρα θανάτοιο, moira thanatoio, " destiny of death"), portion of the distributed land., The word is also used for something which is meet and right (κατά μοίραν, kata moiran, "according to fate, in order, rightly")

It seems that originally the word moira did not indicate the destiny but included the ascertainment or proof. The word daemon, which was an agent related with unexpected events, came to be similar with the word moira. This agent or cause against human control might be also called tyche (chance, fate): "You mistress moira, and tyche, and my daemon "

The word nomos, "law", may have meant originally a portion or lot, as in the verb nemein, "to distribute", and thus "natural lot" came to mean "natural law". The word dike, "justice", conveyed the notion that someone should stay within his own specified boundaries, respecting the ones of his neighbour. If someone broke his boundaries, thus getting more than his ordained part, then he would be punished by law. By extension moira was one's portion or part in destiny which consisted of good and bad moments as it was predetermined by the Moirai (Fates), and it was impossible for anyone to get more than his ordained part. In modern Greek the word came to mean "destiny" (μοίρα or ειμαρμένη).

Kismet, the predetermined course of events in Muslim religion seems to have a similar etymology and function. It means Fate or destiny in the Indo-Aryan Urdu language. In Persian qesmat, in Arabic qisma, "lot", derived from qasama, "to divide, allot".