martyryoudaoicibaDictYouDict[martyr 词源字典]
martyr: [OE] Etymologically, a martyr is a ‘witness’ – that was the original meaning of Greek mártur, which came ultimately from Indo-European *mer ‘remember’ (source of English memory, mourn, remember, etc). In Christian usage, the notion of someone dying as a ‘witness’ to their faith led to the application of mártur to ‘martyr’, and it was in this sense that it passed via Latin martyr into Old English.
=> memory, mourn, remember[martyr etymology, martyr origin, 英语词源]
martyr (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English martyr, from Late Latin martyr, from Doric Greek martyr, earlier martys (genitive martyros), in Christian use "martyr," literally "witness," probably related to mermera "care, trouble," from mermairein "be anxious or thoughtful," from PIE *(s)mrtu- (cognates: Sanskrit smarati "remember," Latin memor "mindful;" see memory).

Adopted directly into most Germanic languages, but Norse substituted native formation pislarvattr, literally "torture-witness." General sense of "constant sufferer" is from 1550s. Martyr complex "exaggerated desire for self-sacrifice" is attested from 1920.
martyr (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
Old English martyrian, from martyr (see martyr (n.)). Middle English also had a verb martyrize.